Politis learned about the demand to stop transactions with the ruble in Cyprus banks

The Cypriot authorities , against the backdrop of the arrival of US law enforcement officers on the island investigating the circumvention of sanctions against Russia, ordered Cypriot banks to stop all transactions in rubles, Politis learned

Cypriot banks, as part of “preventive measures,” have been instructed to stop all transactions in rubles, writes the local newspaper Politis. In addition, law firms, as well as companies providing accounting services, are conducting inspections of procedures for accelerated registration of businesses by Russians in the country.

As the newspaper notes, the corresponding decisions were made by the Cypriot authorities after the US decision to send a group of American law enforcement officers to the island, including from the FBI and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Agency (FinCen), to assist in the consideration of 29 cases related to sanctions against Russia .

Frank Media writes that this may also be related to the November Cyprus Confidential report of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ), which, in particular, stated that violations of the sanctions regime against Russia were occurring in Cyprus.

An ICIJ investigation published on November 14 identified Cyprus as a key jurisdiction through which Russian businessmen have long structured their investments , taking advantage of attractive tax rates, corporate secrecy (information about the ultimate beneficiaries of companies is not publicly available) and, until recently, a “golden visa” program ", which provided citizens of non- EU countries with Cypriot citizenship if they bought property in Cyprus.

In mid-April, the US and UK imposed restrictions on 20 Cypriot companies due to circumvention of sanctions against Russia. Among them are The Sister Trust (its founders are the founder of the USM holding Alisher Usmanov and his sister Gulbahor Ismailova), as well as the companies Almenor, Klaret Aviation and Navis Marine, owned by The Sister Trust and registered in Cyprus, based in the Cayman Islands. Usmanov's representative told RBC that neither the billionaire himself, nor Gulbahor Ismailova, nor any of his relatives are currently the owners of the trust.

The sanctions also affected 23 individuals, ten of whom hold a Cypriot passport and 13 have dual or triple citizenship. After this, the President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, ordered to find out the reasons for imposing sanctions against the Cypriots.

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A week later, the largest Cypriot bank, Bank of Cyprus, began sending out notifications to clients about the closure of accounts. The reasons given were tax residency in Russia, income from a sanctioned business, remote work for Russian companies, as well as an “atypical” residence permit. Later, the bank clarified to RBC that about 4 thousand Russians received notifications.

Moscow has repeatedly called the sanctions illegitimate, since they were introduced without the approval of the UN Security Council. President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the West's calculations on the collapse of the Russian economy did not come true.

In a November banking review by S&P Global Ratings, the international rating agency indicated that Cyprus's extensive ties with Russia, as well as the country's dependence on deposits from non-residents, including Russians, could threaten the island's economy and banking sector. “Bank funding comes almost entirely from customer deposits, with a high dependence on non-resident deposits (about 16% of the total, of which less than 5% comes from Russia),” the review said.