Ammon News - A 24-year-old Russian woman from St. Petersburg discovered that she has been officially married to an Egyptian man named Mostafa since 2022, almost a year after she lost her passport.

The woman lost her passport in the summer of 2021, reported it to the local police, but did not bother to renew her travel document. She didn't really need a new passport then and never imagined anyone else could use the old one.

But earlier this year, while trying to obtain a birth certificate for her child, the young woman learned that her husband, Egyptian Mostafa, must also be present. She never met Mustafa, let alone married him, but Russian records list him as her husband.

It remains unclear whether Mustafa himself found the woman's passport, or if he bought it from someone on the black market. But according to recent news reports, the Egyptian national used the document to apply for a temporary residence permit in Russia, claiming to be the St. Petersburg resident's husband. The document contained a note about the marriage that allegedly took place in January 2022.

After listening to the woman's testimony and verifying that she declared she had lost her passport three years ago and had never met her Egyptian husband, a Russian court annulled the marriage.

This strange story became widespread in Russia last week, although it left many questions unanswered, such as how a man was able to register his marriage to a Russian citizen using only her passport.