Description
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s kleptocracy has come under scrutiny like never before. But a key piece of the picture has so far been missing: how Putin and his oligarchs have used an entire country as a proxy to undermine the West from within the heart of the European Union.
Τhis is the story of how Cyprus, a nation that has been under Russian influence since the 1960s, evolved into a client state after Vladimir Putin assumed the presidency. Today, from this small island in the Mediterranean, Russia and its oligarchs hide and transfer assets, buy EU citizenship and influence Western liberal democracies.
Putin’s Island is the account of a man who was on the front line of Russia’s co-opting of the Cypriot elite. Makarios Drousiotis is one of Cyprus’ best-known investigative journalists and authors and a former presidential advisor. Through his own first-hand experience and a trove of never-before-seen documents and transcripts, Makarios tells the story of Russia’s long history of influencing Cyprus dating back to the Soviet Union’s role in bringing about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, uncovering how Cyprus’ president became the middleman between the bankers and the oligarchs, helping to move dark Russian money into Europe and turn Cyprus into a vehicle for Putin’s interests.
