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On Mar 25, 2013, at 7:40 PM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> A quote from that Glenny piece in case it's behind the FT's paywall:
>
> But the most visible Russian presence was to be found in and around the Middle East. Dubai and Israel were both cherished, the former for commercial reasons, the latter on cultural grounds. In relative terms, however, Cyprus was by far the most popular. It had everything the Moscow elite loved – Mediterranean sun, tax-haven status and a deeply incurious police force. The attraction of Cyprus’s Eastern Orthodox culture was also important. Most Russians were welcomed with open arms by Cypriots as co-confessionals and generous investors.
>
> Equally important but less well known was a considerable clandestine KGB presence on the island during the cold war. From here, Moscow would monitor events in the Middle East. When the oligarchs and crime syndicates started gutting the Russian economy, the remnants of that intelligence network was vital in turning Cyprus into the world’s largest laundry for dubious money.
>
>
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