Cypriot authorities froze the assets of people the United States and Britain accused of helping Russian billionaires evade sanctions. This was stated by the country’s financial commissioner, Pavlos Ioannou, on the air of the local television and radio company CyBC.
According to Ioannou, the government acted “with caution” to solve the problem and the action of the banks was inevitable. At the same time, the official did not specify how many people were affected by the blockade.
Earlier this week, according to RBC, the country’s largest bank, Bank of Cyprus, notified 4,000 customers of the account closures. The measure affected Russian citizens who are not residents of EU countries. The organization attributed the decision to “customer acceptance policies and associated risk appetite.”
On April 12, the United States imposed sanctions against several companies, citizens and residents of Cyprus, which Washington links to Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov.
At the same time, the UK added lawyers Christodoulos Vassiliades and Demetris Ioannides to the sanctions list for their cooperation with Usmanov and Roman Abramovich, respectively.
According to Reuters, in response to this, the Cypriot government said it would not tolerate violations of the sanctions imposed against Russia to “protect the credibility of the country.”
Photo: Paul Cowan/Shutterstock
Author:
Ahmed Sadulayev
Source: RB
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