105 million Russian deposits arrested in Cyprus and promise to speed up
Cyprus's Finance Minister Konstantinos Petridis said the country actively supports anti-Russian sanctions by freezing Russian deposits worth 105 million euros to align with political interests.
Petridis mentioned that the passports of oligarchs facing sanctions are being confiscated, and Cyprus has seized 105 million euros of Russian deposits, as reported by CBS News.
The stated amount is just the beginning, with more funds targeted under the sanctions. Procedures have been initiated to confiscate the remaining deposits, and Russian companies under EU and US sanctions are closely monitored in Cyprus.
In April 2022, the government revoked Cypriot citizenship from four Russians sanctioned, followed by four more Russians and their family members losing their Cypriot passports.
In August, the council of ministers decided to revoke the passports of seven more foreign citizens, with plans to deprive ten others of citizenship last October. The government attributed this to the results of an investigation by the Ministry of the Interior, as passports were originally issued in exchange for non-refundable investments, but the reversal process details are unspecified.
Since 2007, Cyprus became a hub for Russian entrepreneurs, but was found to be unreliable as the campaign to raise capital and grant citizenship unfolded.
In 2013, Cyprus officially launched the CIP – the Cyprus Investment Program, exchanging citizenship for investment starting from 2.5 million dollars, attracting 8 billion euros in additional investment and issuing about 4,000 “golden passports” since 2013.
By November 1, 2020, the Cypriot authorities had reversed their stance on foreign capital and the scandal prompted the rapid cancellation of the simplified scheme after an Al Jazeera investigation exposed collaboration with foreign criminals and improper passport issuance.
It's worth noting that the US and EU have criticized Cyprus for selling citizenship, accusing the country in a 2018 US government report of laundering Russian investment without proper vetting.
