NICOSIA – A Cypriot whistleblower and former aide to President Nikos Anastasiades said the government is using surveillance techniques to help powerful Russians who have vast influence on the island.
The government denied the claims reported by the site EURACTIV although rich Russians had been using Cypriot banks for years to hide their wealth and the island is a favorite for Russian visitors and businesses.
Makarios Drousiotis, who now works as a journalist, was an aide to Anastasiades and later worked for former European Commissioner Christos Stylianides who is now Greece’s Commissioner for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection for the New Democracy government.
Drousiotis alleged that the Cypriot government used spyware and bugging, including against him and that his cell phone and computer were hacked in 2018 while he was working for Stylianides at the EU office.
EURACTIV contacted Anastasiades’ office which said the claims were “unsupported accusations” and that it would “express total contempt to yellow journalism trash and malicious lies.”
Interviewed by EURACTIV, Drousiotis said the hacking happened when he had also started a private project researching corruption in Cyprus, focusing on links between Anastasiades and billionaire Russian businessman Dmitri Rybolovlev, who was Chairman of the Russian fertilizer producer Uralkali.
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