Russian reactions to Cyprus
March 19, 2013
Russia's elite are angry. Cyprus's plan to seize deposits is "unfair, unprofessional and dangerous," said Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson Monday (18.03.2013). Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev added fuel to the fire. "This simply looks like the confiscation of other people's money," he said.
Events in Cyprus also affected Moscow's stock exchange, as shares from two major Russian banks - VTB and Sberbank - dropped roughly five percent when trading started. According to media reports, both banks are said to have more than $10 billion (7.7 billion euros) stashed in deposits in Cyprus.
Cyprus's parliament is scheduled to vote on the controversial measures on Tuesday (19.03.2013). The new law is expected to save the crippled EU country from going bankrupt.
At the end of last week, EU finance ministers voted in favor of these measures. The bailout package of about 10 billion euros includes a one-off tax on all bank deposits in Cyprus. The exact sums are still being negotiated.
Russian haven
Figures help to explain Russia's swift reaction: According to Russian state statistics agency Rosstat, Cyprus businesses invested $78.2 billion (60.4 billion euros) in Russia in 2011 alone. That is almost three times as much as Cyprus's investments in Germany. The small EU country is by far the largest investor in Russia and accounts for almost half of all foreign investments.
"That is by no means Cypriot money," said Heinrich Steinhauer, who heads the German regional bank Helaba in Moscow. The invested funds were "Russian money that gets re-invested via Cyprus," he told DW.
According to Hans-Henning Schröder of the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Cyprus, with its low tax rates, is considered "an important station for Russian cash flows." He told DW that Cyprus is where Russians transfer money in order to "protect it against the grip of the Russian state."
Schröder is referring to wealthy individuals, to the oligarchs of post-Soviet states. One of them is Alisher Usmanov. In 2012, Forbes business magazine and the Bloomberg news agency listed Usmanov as the richest man in Russia. His fortune is estimated at $17.5 to $20 billion. Usmanov makes money from metals, mining and technology. He is considered a "king" of iron ore in the post-Soviet era.
Cyprus's especially simple legal infrastructure makes the island country especially attractive for Russians, Helaba's Steinhauer said.
"One can found companies, investment trusts or holdings [in Cyprus], which then carry out investment plans in Russia."
Ukraine in Cyprus
But it's not just Russia that is affected by the proposed bank account tax in Cyprus. Oligarchs in Ukraine also like to transfer money to Cyprus and then re-invest it back home. Just like in Russia, Cyprus has been the largest foreign investor in Ukraine. In 2011, the country invested more than $10 billion, according to Ukraine's statistics agency Derzhkomstat. That represents one-fifth of the total foreign investments in the former Soviet republic.
More than 90 percent of all Ukrainian foreign investments in 2012 went to Cyprus. If ownership changes in the Ukraine, a company with a postal address in Cyprus simply gets replaced by another one in Cyprus.
There is another reason why Russia has been observing the situation in Cyprus attentively. In 2012, the Russian government lent $2.5 billion to Cyprus with a term of four years. Cyprus would like to extend the repayment period for that loan. According to Russian media reports, Cyprus's Finance Minister Michalis Sarris wanted to talk about that in Moscow on Monday, but his visit was postponed to Wednesday (20.03.2013).
The decision about extending the loan will now be made in the light of Cyprus's bank deposit scheme. "We will watch this situation closely," Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the news agency Interfax on Monday.
Other havens
German banker Steinhauer believes Cyprus will remain an attractive haven for oligarchs from Eastern Europe - despite the controversial bailout package. "Unless they gradually want to go against it," Steinhauer added. "But I don't think that this will be the case at the moment."
Schröder, the Berlin-based Russia expert, is even more skeptical. "If Cyprus is put under stricter financial supervision in the future, and is no longer considered the 'safe haven' that it used to be, it might very well be that Russian and other investors switch to other banking centers," he said.
Instead of Cyprus, the expert added, Russian funds could then be transferred to the Netherlands, Austria or other tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands in the future.