The Cypriot publication Politis has published a list of 77 foreigners who have been stripped of their Cypriot citizenship. Among them are the names of Russian billionaires Oleg Deripaska, Alexey Kuzmichev, Mikhail Gutseriev and Vadim Moshkovich, as well as the former owner of Probusinessbank, Alexander Zheleznyak.
Details. According to the Cypriot publication Politis, the list was prepared about a month ago, and it included the cases of Russian billionaires, as well as Malaysian stockbroker Jho Low, accused of financial crimes. The family members of investors will also be stripped of their passports - their number is indicated in brackets next to the names of the main recipients of the documents.
The cases of investors whose passports were revoked will be further examined by the Cyprus police, Politis specifies. And although the list does not contain details about the list participants (data on property, place of work, date of birth), in a significant number of cases it can be said with a high degree of certainty that it is famous Russian businessmen and managers who are being deprived of Cypriot citizenship. Earlier, it was reported that they had passports of the island state, and in some cases, even about the plans of the Cypriot authorities to cancel them.
For example, the list includes four former owners or top managers of Probusinessbank and the Life group in one group - Alexander Zheleznyak, Yaroslav Alekseev, Alexander Lomov and Eduard Panteleev. It was previously reported that the Life group had assets in Cyprus, and Alekseev and Sergey Leontyev had citizenship of the country. The list includes seven Russian businessmen who were included in the Forbes list of billionaires for 2024.
Who was likely stripped of citizenship:
????Oleg Deripaska (+3), founder of Rusal
????Alexey Kuzmichev (+5), shareholder of Alfa Group
????Mikhail Gutseriev (+7), shareholder of the Safmar Group
????Igor Kesaev (+1), owner of the Mercury Group of Companies
????Alexander Ponomarenko (+4), former chairman of the board of directors of Sheremetyevo
????Vadim Moshkovich, owner of Rusagro
????Sergey Lomakin (+6), co-owner of the Fix Price chain of low-price stores, owner of the Cypriot football club Pafos
????Grigory Berezkin (+1), owner of the ESN Group and the RBC publication
????Eduard Panteleev (+5), co-founder of the bank "Tochka"
????Dmitry Tsvetkov (+1), former co-owner of the Graff jewelry boutique in Cyprus
????Yan Abramov (+4), former co-owner of the New Weapons Technologies company, former husband of Alsou
????Ali Beglov (+1), businessman from St. Petersburg, tried in an extortion case
????Ekaterina Kolmakova (+12), top manager of the Rolf company and Profmedia (according to LinkedIn)
????Alexander Zheleznyak (+4), former owner of Probusinessbank
????Yaroslav Alekseev (+3), former vice president of Probusinessbank
????Alexander Lomov (+4), former deputy chairman of the board of Probusinessbank
????Dmitry Motorin (+1), former employee of Inkreditbank, wanted in the case of the colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko
????Ivan Stankevich (+5), former member of the board of directors of the bank "New Time" and ex-husband of Anna Semenovich, wanted in the Zakharchenko case
????Mikhail Yurevich (+7), former governor of the Chelyabinsk region. Wanted in a bribery case
????Maria Gartung (+1), wife of State Duma deputy Valery Gartung
????Gulbahor Ismailova (+1), sister of Alisher Usmanov
????Pavel Ezubov (+6), son of State Duma deputy Alexey Ezubov and partner of Deripaska
????Maya Bolotova (+1), daughter of Transneft head Nikolay Tokarev
????Andrey Puchkov (+1), former top manager of Urban Group, wanted for abuse of power
????Sergey Kovbasyuk (+4), former FSB investigator, was hiding in Cyprus in a bribery case
????Valery Drelle (+2), businessman, defendant in the case of theft of 2 billion rubles from Gazprom Neft
Ukrainian businessmen:
????Igor Kolomoisky (+1), billionaire
????Vadim Shulman (+1), businessman from Kolomoisky's circle
????Oleg Bakhmatyuk (+5), owner of UkrLandFarming
????Konstantin Grigorishin (+1), owner of the Ukrainian group of companies "Energy Standard"
Context. The "golden" passport is a practice of obtaining citizenship by investment. This method of granting EU citizenship has faced serious criticism from Brussels in recent years.
In 2020, Al Jazeera accused Cyprus of issuing "golden" passports to people who were prosecuted under criminal articles in their home country. According to the publication, from 2017 to 2019, "golden" passports were received by 1.4 thousand people who had problems with the law. Russians made up a significant part of the list.
After the start of the war, Brussels increased pressure on Cyprus.
Details. According to the Cypriot publication Politis, the list was prepared about a month ago, and it included the cases of Russian billionaires, as well as Malaysian stockbroker Jho Low, accused of financial crimes. The family members of investors will also be stripped of their passports - their number is indicated in brackets next to the names of the main recipients of the documents.
The cases of investors whose passports were revoked will be further examined by the Cyprus police, Politis specifies. And although the list does not contain details about the list participants (data on property, place of work, date of birth), in a significant number of cases it can be said with a high degree of certainty that it is famous Russian businessmen and managers who are being deprived of Cypriot citizenship. Earlier, it was reported that they had passports of the island state, and in some cases, even about the plans of the Cypriot authorities to cancel them.
For example, the list includes four former owners or top managers of Probusinessbank and the Life group in one group - Alexander Zheleznyak, Yaroslav Alekseev, Alexander Lomov and Eduard Panteleev. It was previously reported that the Life group had assets in Cyprus, and Alekseev and Sergey Leontyev had citizenship of the country. The list includes seven Russian businessmen who were included in the Forbes list of billionaires for 2024.
Who was likely stripped of citizenship:
????Oleg Deripaska (+3), founder of Rusal
????Alexey Kuzmichev (+5), shareholder of Alfa Group
????Mikhail Gutseriev (+7), shareholder of the Safmar Group
????Igor Kesaev (+1), owner of the Mercury Group of Companies
????Alexander Ponomarenko (+4), former chairman of the board of directors of Sheremetyevo
????Vadim Moshkovich, owner of Rusagro
????Sergey Lomakin (+6), co-owner of the Fix Price chain of low-price stores, owner of the Cypriot football club Pafos
????Grigory Berezkin (+1), owner of the ESN Group and the RBC publication
????Eduard Panteleev (+5), co-founder of the bank "Tochka"
????Dmitry Tsvetkov (+1), former co-owner of the Graff jewelry boutique in Cyprus
????Yan Abramov (+4), former co-owner of the New Weapons Technologies company, former husband of Alsou
????Ali Beglov (+1), businessman from St. Petersburg, tried in an extortion case
????Ekaterina Kolmakova (+12), top manager of the Rolf company and Profmedia (according to LinkedIn)
????Alexander Zheleznyak (+4), former owner of Probusinessbank
????Yaroslav Alekseev (+3), former vice president of Probusinessbank
????Alexander Lomov (+4), former deputy chairman of the board of Probusinessbank
????Dmitry Motorin (+1), former employee of Inkreditbank, wanted in the case of the colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko
????Ivan Stankevich (+5), former member of the board of directors of the bank "New Time" and ex-husband of Anna Semenovich, wanted in the Zakharchenko case
????Mikhail Yurevich (+7), former governor of the Chelyabinsk region. Wanted in a bribery case
????Maria Gartung (+1), wife of State Duma deputy Valery Gartung
????Gulbahor Ismailova (+1), sister of Alisher Usmanov
????Pavel Ezubov (+6), son of State Duma deputy Alexey Ezubov and partner of Deripaska
????Maya Bolotova (+1), daughter of Transneft head Nikolay Tokarev
????Andrey Puchkov (+1), former top manager of Urban Group, wanted for abuse of power
????Sergey Kovbasyuk (+4), former FSB investigator, was hiding in Cyprus in a bribery case
????Valery Drelle (+2), businessman, defendant in the case of theft of 2 billion rubles from Gazprom Neft
Ukrainian businessmen:
????Igor Kolomoisky (+1), billionaire
????Vadim Shulman (+1), businessman from Kolomoisky's circle
????Oleg Bakhmatyuk (+5), owner of UkrLandFarming
????Konstantin Grigorishin (+1), owner of the Ukrainian group of companies "Energy Standard"
Context. The "golden" passport is a practice of obtaining citizenship by investment. This method of granting EU citizenship has faced serious criticism from Brussels in recent years.
In 2020, Al Jazeera accused Cyprus of issuing "golden" passports to people who were prosecuted under criminal articles in their home country. According to the publication, from 2017 to 2019, "golden" passports were received by 1.4 thousand people who had problems with the law. Russians made up a significant part of the list.
After the start of the war, Brussels increased pressure on Cyprus.
