NICOSIA – Long known as friendly to rich Russians wanting to plant their money in banks on the island, Cyprus is seeing deposits from them falling after going along with European Union sanctions over Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Cyprus was already tightening scrutiny before the 2022 invasion and Russian deposits held in Cypriot banks reportedly fell 76 percent from 2014 to 2022, while Ukrainian deposits shrank by 67 percent.

The number of Russian clients using Cypriot banks dropped by 82 percent in the same period, while Ukrainian clients fell by 54 percent, said EuroNews, adding that visiting US officials are helping check for alleged sanctions busters.

https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/01/24/why-is-cyprus-seeing-russian-bank-deposits-plunge

Cypriot banks severed business ties with nearly 60,000 customers – mostly Russian and Ukrainian nationals – between 2014 and 2022, while some 126,000 accounts have been suspended, amounting to some 40 billion euros ($42.94 billion,) the report added.

Local media recently reported that several large Russian-owned companies registered in Cyprus have transferred their headquarters abroad with the spotlight on them.

After addressing the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on Tuesday, Christodoulides said Cyprus has fully implemented all EU sanctions against Russia and challenged reporters to look through an EU report detailing which countries are not. “I stand boldly before you and admit that mistakes were made,” Christodoulides said, referring to allegations of money laundering that was the reputation for taking in so much Russian cash.

“All this is now history for Cyprus… Mistakes have been made in the past and the first who paid for these mistakes were the Cyprus Republic and the Cypriot people themselves,” Christodoulides said.