Cyprus to revoke passports of four sanctioned Russians-sources
NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cyprus will revoke the passports of 4 sanctioned Russians who had acquired citizenship beneath an funding scheme discontinued in late 2020, authorities sources stated on Thursday.
The names of the people weren’t disclosed, however they’re on a listing of greater than 800 folks sanctioned by the European Union within the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and thought of to be near Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was attributable to handle Cyprus’s parliament at 1500 GMT on Thursday.
One supply confirmed a report which appeared on the web site of the Politis newspaper that the full variety of passports which might be revoked was 21, together with dependents of the sanctioned Russians.
Cyprus gave citizenship to 2,886 Russian nationals, amongst them traders and their households, over a interval from 2007 to August 2020.
They had been amongst 6,779 individuals who acquired citizenship for a minimal 2 million euro ($2.18 million) funding. A later fee of inquiry discovered the scheme had run in a authorized vacuum for greater than a decade with out enough oversight.
Greater than half of the passports had been issued unlawfully, the fee stated. In October, authorities stated they’d be revoking passports from 45 people.
($1 = 0.9164 euros)
(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Enhancing by Bernadette Baum)
