The president of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades proposed giving citizenship to the depositors of Cyprus banks, who suffered losses of at least 3 million euros. The president hopes this will help to partially compensate for the damage caused in the aftermath of restructuring of the country’s credit institutions. The Russians are to be mostly affected. The accounts of the Russian businessmen in Cyprus banks are estimated at billions of euros and losses can constitute up to 60% of the funds invested.
According to the new measure, foreign investors who opened deposits before March 15, 2013 and lost over 3 billion euros will be eligible to apply for Cyprus citizenship. Previously, this extended to the depositors who had lost 10 billion euros.
In addition, citizenship seekers will no longer be required to have 15 million euro deposits in Cyprus banks for five years.
"These decisions will be deployed in a fast-track manner ," Mr Anastasiades said.
