Tucked away in a Guardian article otherwise about allegations of breaches of the UK’s sanctions, it is being reported that the Cypriot Ministry of Finance has confirmed that it is investigating whether Cypriot subsidiaries of the Essar Group entered into transactions with Russia’s VTB Bank that breached, or circumvented, the EU’s sanctions.
The allegations relate to the movement of debt obligations owed by the Essar Group to VTB Bank from Cyprus to Mauritius in 2022.
As part of a press conference setting out the various strands of work conducted by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, information has been provided on sanctions enforcement:
“What is more, enhanced monitoring was conducted on entities with current or past exposure to persons subject to EU restrictive measures against Russia.
Cases involving potential breaches of sanctions were forwarded to the police and the attorney general for further investigation, with relevant information also shared with the National Sanctions Implementation Unit established under the new sanctions framework that entered into force in July 2025“.
It was also stated that CySEC had imposed total fines and penalties of €2.3m during 2025 but no information is given to indicate that any of this sum related to sanctions fines. The CySEC website itself does not include the details of any fines in 2025.
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York has issued a press release, providing details of the arrest in Cyprus of Arthur Petrov a Russian-German national in August 2023 for the purposes of extradition to face charges in the US of breaching US sanctions against Russia.
Petrov only arrived in New York in August 2024 suggesting prolonged extradition proceedings in Cyprus.
Petrov operated the Cypriot company Astrafteros Technokosmos LTD, via which he procured US-origin microelectronics for onward sale, ultimately, to the Russian military through the company LLC Electrocom VPK.
Two other co-defendants remain at large.
A press release from the United State’s Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has included details of an arrest and extradition by the Cypriot authorities in support of US charges of sanctions and export control violations.
On 26 August 223, Arthur Petrov was arrested in Cyprus in relation to:
“export control violations, smuggling, wire fraud, and money laundering offenses in connection with his alleged participation in a scheme to procure U.S.-sourced microelectronics subject to U.S. export controls on behalf of a Russia-based supplier of critical electronics components for manufacturers supplying weaponry and other equipment to the Russian military”.
Mr Petrov operated the scheme through his Cypriot company Astrafteros Technokosmos LTD.
His extradition from Cyprus was completed and he arrived in the US on 8 August 2024.
It is being reported in Cyprus that two cases have been referred to the Prosecutor’s Office for instituting criminal proceedings. No other information was published on these matters.
In addition, yesterday the Economic Crime Investigation Unit provided updates to the Law Office on the progress with 10 of their ongoing cases, including (as we have previously noted) the investigation into asset transfers allegedly in breach of the EU’s sanctions by Alexei Mordashov.
With the recent news that Finland has increased the number of its ongoing investigations, Europe (meaning the EU, the UK, Switzerland, etc) has reached the milestone of over 2,000 ongoing and public sanctions enforcement investigations being undertaken by regulators and prosecutors.
No doubt there are other investigations which are ongoing in the countries shown on the graph, and no doubt there are investigations ongoing in countries not shown and which remain confidential.
How many of these will be dropped due to inconclusive evidence or exculpatory evidence, and how many will lead to a conviction or fine or acquittal is impossible to say.
It is, without question, an unprecedented level of enforcement.
Last week the compliance and oversight department of the Cyprus Bar Association raided the premises of the company Finsol controlled by a Greek national regulated by the CBA.
The raid is part of a wider investigation which includes the Cypriot Anti-Money Laundering Authority and Cyprus police.
While the investigation includes allegations unrelated to sanctions, part of the investigation, further to our earlier post, includes allegation of back-dated asset transfers in relation to the company Santinomo Limited, allegedly in an attempt to avoid the impact of a new designation.
The Cypriot authorities have more than 40 ongoing criminal investigations related to alleged breaches of the EU’s Russian sanctions.
It is being reported that yesterday the current status of “all open cases exceeding 40 were reviewed” by the Law Office and the state’s Attorney General, with the Office for Economic Crime Investigation.
It is also being reported that for the completed investigations “indictments will be prepared to initiate criminal prosecutions in court”.
Further to our earlier post there has been an ongoing investigation in Cyprus in relation to the alleged transfer of over $1 billion in shares by Alexey Mordashov in breach of the asset freeze imposed upon him by the European Union.
It is now being reported that the Cypriot investigation has reached its “final stages”.
The report gives no indication of the outcome of the investigation.
The allegations relate to transfers of the shares in the tourism operator Tui.
It has been reported today that the Company Registrar in Cyprus, alongside the Cyprus Bar Association, are investigating an instance of possible Russian sanctions breaches.
The investigation relates to allegations that two days after additions to the OFAC SDN list a Cypriot company newly-filed documents purporting to show corporate rearrangements dating back several years which is accurate and reliable would remove the company from the impact of the US listing.
It is unclear whether the investigation relates to any breaches of the EU’s sanctions.
