Four Russian Billionaires Lose Cypriot Citizenship

Cyprus says it will deport four more Russian billionaires as part of the EU’s sanctions against Moscow for its unprovoked war against Ukraine.

On April 20, Deputy Government Spokeswoman Niovi Parisinou said 11 members of the billionaires’ families will lose citizenship.

According to local media reports on April 21, Russian tycoons Oleg Deripaska and Igor Kesayev, Grigory Beryozkin, owner of the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda and RBK media holding, and Gulbakhor Ismailova, sister of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, will lose their Cypriot citizenship, along with 11 of their dependents, according to government policy.

Since Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24, the EU has sanctioned over 1,000 Russians.

The four billionaires and their families got Cypriot citizenship through a program called Golden Passport that let investors get EU passports. Almost 3,000 Russians have taken part in the scheme.

Deripaska got his citizenship in 2017, Ismailova got hers in 2015, and Beryozkin and Kesayev got theirs in 2012.

Mikhail Gutseriyev, Aleksandr Ponomarenko, Vadim Moshkovich, and Aleksei Kuzmichyov were all deported from Cyprus last week, according to Cypriot media.

Corrupt officials shut down the Golden Passport program in October 2020.