Cyprus Labors to Shield Reputation Amid New US, UK Action on Russian 'Sanctions Evasion Network'

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) For Cypriots, it was a collective here we go again moment.

In April, the U.S. and the U.K. included a handful of Cypriot nationals and Cyprus-registered companies on a list of enablers helping Russian oligarchs skirt sanctions. It was an unwelcome reminder of the lingering perception that the island nation somehow remains Moscow's financial lackey.

For years, authorities in this tiny European Union member country have tried hard to shake that reputation, partly buttressed by a 2013 financial crisis when all eyes were on Cypriot banks flush with Russian cash. At the time, nearly a third of the 68 billion euros in deposits more than triple the country's entire economy was held by Russians.

That was compounded by a badly structured and shoddily executed citizenship-for-investment program. For more than a decade, it generated billions by handing Cypriot passports and by extension access to the EU to hundreds of wealthy Russians and others, with some taking advantage of lax vetting procedures to cover up a shady past.