Issued by: Prime Minster's Office, 10 Downing Street

The UK will support Cyprus in establishing a new National Sanctions Implementation Unit to crack down on illicit Russian finance flowing through Europe.

• New unit to stop dirty Russian money being funnelled through Europe.

• Comes as both countries deepen serious organised crime cooperation to deliver on the government’s mission to make the UK’s streets safer.

• Prime Minister’s trip to the Republic of Cyprus the first bilateral visit in half a century.

The UK will support Cyprus in establishing a new National Sanctions Implementation Unit to crack down on illicit Russian finance flowing through Europe.

The partnership, which was agreed with the Prime Minister and President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides this morning, further strengthens the intelligence and security relationship between the two countries.

The unit will share expertise and intelligence between the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation and Cypriot Ministry of Finance to disrupt and intercept the flow of illicit finance through Europe to ensure the effectiveness of sanctions on Putin’s war machine.

That new unit will include new analytical tools and powers to investigate sanctions evasion and track funds being moved across Europe.

The unit comes as the UK also deepens cooperation with Cyprus on serious organised crime. We will work together to combat illicit finance by sharing knowledge on the registration of beneficial owners of assets.

In addition, the UK will roll out financial crime training packages to law enforcement teams in Cyprus next year, delivered by UK National Crime Agency. It will support the upskilling of customs officers in Cyprus, delivered by HMRC, helping to improve risk profiling and investigation and prosecution techniques on illicit tobacco.

This will in turn disrupt smuggling activity and reduce the flows of illicit tobacco into the UK, supporting the government’s safer streets mission.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:

"This government is delivering on our Plan for Change, which is built on strong foundations, including our national security. Only by working with likeminded partners can we protect our interests both at home and abroad.

"Together with the Republic Cyprus, we are stemming the flow of illicit finance through Europe to starve Putin’s war machine and protect global stability."

The Republic of Cyprus has frozen £1.5 billion in Russian assets since Putin’s barbaric full-scale invasion of Ukraine, supporting the collective effort to choke Russia’s war machine.

President Christodoulides’ government also joined the UK-led Shadow Fleet initiative in July, to further support Ukraine and intercept ships undertaking illegal operations aimed at circumventing sanctions, evading compliance with safety or environmental regulations, and avoiding insurance costs.

46 countries and the EU have now signed up to the UK-led call to action against the Shadow fleet, announced by Prime Minister at the European Political Community summit in July.

The Prime Minister’s visit to the Commonwealth country this morning is the first bilateral visit to the Republic of Cyprus in more than 50 years – the last Prime Minister to visit bilaterally was Edward Heath in 1971. John Major then visited for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1993.

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