The Germans asked for the tax and have been accusing the Cypriots of laundering Russian money. Go figure. Russians are obviously feeling guilty and have already offered to help. Money for the Bosnian conflict was funneled through Cypriot banks, so they’re not innocents. It’s also a low tax environment at least for expats, so it looks even more like a punitive anti tax evasion move. I lived in Cyprus. Nice little island, and has the only divided city left in the world. Turkey is probably smirking in the background, and Germany is probably glad Turkey was turned down from membership. I think one cause of the problem was Cypriot investment in Greece.
