A Cypriot whistleblower and former aide to President Nikos Anastasiades has accused the EU country authorities of engaging in surveillance activities to the benefit of powerful Russians, something the president vehemently denies.
Makarios Drousiotis, who now works as a journalist, was an aide to Anastasiades and later worked for Commissioner Christos Stylianides until the latter’s term expired in 2019. He has alleged that the authorities employed digital surveillance and eavesdropping techniques and that he was personally targeted, even during his time in the Commission.
EURACTIV contacted the office of President Anastasiades, who called the claims “unsupported accusations” and added they had nothing to say except “express total contempt to yellow journalism trash and malicious lies”.
Interviewed by EURACTIV, Drousiotis said his phone and computer were hacked in 2018 while he was still working for Stylianides in the Commission. At the time, he had also started a private project researching corruption in Cyprus, focusing on links between Anastasiades and powerful Russian businessman Dmitri Rybolovlev.
Rybolovlev was the chairman of the Russian fertiliser producer Uralkali and quickly became a billionaire.
He reportedly used Andreas Neocleous & Co law firm to set up trust funds to disassociate him from the money, and in 2010, he bought a 9.7% stake in the Bank of Cyprus, which helped him receive Cypriot citizenship under the country’s now-shelved...
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