Cyprus criminalizes the provision of economic resources to sanctioned individuals, which may include accounts in sanctioned Russian banks for Russians with Cypriot passports. This is the implementation of a European Parliament directive, which only seven EU countries had implemented by May 20.
Cyprus is introducing criminal liability for circumventing sanctions against Russia. Now, providing economic resources to sanctioned individuals will be considered a crime in Cyprus. For Russians with Cypriot passports, this may include accounts in sanctioned Russian banks, working in companies on the EU sanctions list, and providing services to businesses with Russian participation. This is reported by UNN with reference to DW.
Details
It is noted that Cyprus is implementing a directive of the European Parliament, according to which EU member states were supposed to adopt relevant norms by May 20. However, at that time, only Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Finland, and Sweden implemented legislative changes. After that, Brussels called on 18 more countries to introduce similar rules (except for the Netherlands, where the law is already in force, and Denmark, for which an exception has been made).
Now, under Cypriot jurisdiction, providing economic resources to sanctioned individuals will be considered a crime, which can be interpreted quite broadly, notes the Russian publication "Kommersant", referring to the opinion of experts. In particular, for Russians with a Cypriot passport, violations of the law may include having accounts in sanctioned Russian banks, working in companies on the EU sanctions list, and providing services, such as consulting, to businesses with Russian participation.
– the post says.
According to DW, in 2024, Cypriot authorities stripped 77 foreigners of their citizenship, who received "golden passports" under the investment program, including seven Russian billionaires, among them Oleg Deripaska and Mikhail Gutseriev.
Cyprus suspended the "golden passport" program in 2020 due to numerous abuses
– DW writes.
In 2019, it was reported that about 40% of passports under the program were received by Russian citizens.
Recall
In 2024, the European Union approved criminal penalties, including imprisonment and fines, for assisting in the circumvention of EU sanctions, such as travel bans, trading in sanctioned goods, or prohibited financial activities.
The European Commission proposed this directive in December 2022 to limit sanctions circumvention and strengthen enforcement. In response to Russian aggression against Ukraine, the EU has taken an unprecedented number of restrictive measures to weaken Russia's economic base and limit its ability to wage war.
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