US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that wealthy Russians were involved in laundering large sums of money in Cyprus and Malta.
“Wealthy Russians, many of whom have ties to the Kremlin, have laundered billions of dollars in Cyprus and Malta,” Pompeo said in a statement. He noted that such actions led to the spread of corruption and problems in the domestic markets of Cyprus and Malta.
Cyprus from November 1, 2020 canceled the program of obtaining citizenship through investment in the country’s economy, since there was a corruption component in the Cypriot “golden passport” scheme. The country’s authorities report that the government will study the possibility of a new program aimed at attracting foreign funds to the country’s economy. In September, the Cypriot newspaper Politis reported that 34 Russians had become holders of Cyprus’ golden passports, who received citizenship in exchange for investments in 2008-2012.
At the end of 2019, Russia became the leader in the number of purchase and sale transactions in Cyprus among non-EU countries. The main investing countries outside the EU in 2019 were China, Russia and the UAE.
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