Posted on 03/18/2013 4:14:31 AM PDT by cunning_fish
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized on Monday a levy imposed by the European Union on bank deposits in Cyprus as unfair and setting a dangerous precedent.
"While assessing the proposed additional levy on bank accounts in Cyprus, Putin said that such a decision, should it be made, would be unfair, unprofessional and dangerous," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
Russian citizens account for the majority of the billions of euros held in Cypriot banks by foreign depositors, and Russian banks are heavily exposed to the island as a favored offshore centre for big business.
The levy, imposed as part of a 10 billion euro bailout, sparked panic among Cypriots over the weekend and hit Russian and other European financial markets on Monday.
As the Cyprus parliament prepares to vote on the measure on Monday, the government in Nicosia was working on a plan to soften the blow for smaller savers.
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov earlier said the tax would be acceptable if it was levied only on interest earned by savers.
There are almost 70 billion euros in deposits held in Cyprus. A little less than half that is held by non-residents, most believed to be Russian.
At the end of last year, Russian banks had around $12 billion on deposits with Cypriot banks and corporate deposits accounted for another $19 billion, according to Moody's credit-rating agency.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
That’s probably the plan - if it works for Cyprus, it will eventually work for the rest of the EU. Free money for the taking!
Obama- and his goons probably did the suggestion- to see
how it will work here-
remember- the Demonrats have been floating the idea-
of taxing your 401K’s,IRA’s etc. for sometime- and
by taxing- meaning you put in now -you must have some
type of “fee” associated with it- not just the taxes
when you withdraw-
Hell- there are ALL kinds of Taxes I can throw at the
“rich people”- including the Rich that saved.
That can't be good//
Didn’t Gov Palin just make a ‘joke’ about most politicians were like Bernie Maddov - how timely.
I wonder if this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back? I could ironically see the US and UK yet again backing the Russians to defeat the Germans yet again 5-10 years down the road. I didn’t realize most of the money in these Cyprus banks was Russian until I read this article.
I doubt that
If a similar bank deposit grab (er, one-time “contribution”) happened in the Caymans or other Caribbean bank haven, and affected Barry O’bama’s wealthy liberal supporters, better bet he’d be on the horn
In 2009 the obamaessiah might have threatened the Swiss banking system into becoming part of the IRS but I do believe the thrill is gone
Who's surprised.
Cyprus is in Asia, but eeeew Eu took it in and now wants to “fix” it, by milking Russian commie capitalists.
Commies used to do “adjustments” to people's savings by having “corrections” of exchanging people's money, say first 1000 at 1:5 and over 1000 at 1:50. That will teach “greedy” people to hoard the money.
0bama is good student and agent of commiesarrriat and itching to implement the equalization “reforms” in greedy Amerika.
Are u talking about the seniors and poor who’s money is being stolen?
Put aside his motivations, the bottom line is that he is right. The world truly has turned upside down when Putin, once again, sounds like more of a property rights Capitalist than those in the West do.
PING!
That was my first thought, too...
Protest? He’s salivating about doing it here.
reading the comments in some of the articles linked in Drudge is fascinating!
Some Germans are all self righteous about how Russian “black money” should be up for grabs anyway and not “protected” by Germans (Hey Hans, wait until you get your next natural gas bill from Russia, Yippy Ki Yay)
Other euros are sarcastic that depositors like retired expat Brits are upset- after all they moved their life savings (what they saved after already being taxed) to a Cyprus bank that pays 6% interest - and now get upset when their savings account is zapped... doesn’t such greed deserve a haircut
other EEE-UUU’s are saying well, Cyprus is just a tiny little bank shithole anyway, could never happen in Spain, Italy etc..... apparently some members of the European “UNION” are more equal or protected than others
If it works for Cyprus, it will destroy every bank in the EU. Because there will be a run on every EU bank.
Choice A: Leave your money in your EU bank. Earn 0.1% interest. Lose 10% of your savings as a "tax" whenever the government needs more money.
Choice B: Take every cent out of your account. Buy some gold. Put the rest under your mattress.
If the Cyprus solution is copied by the rest of the EU, who in the EU wouldn't take Choice B?
Yep... evidenced by his warning in 2009 to Obama that going socialist is a destructive path.
Is the world upside down or what?
IMHO, the "black money" angle is just a cover for the theft. If the EU was really interested in stopping the money-laundering, it would do a comprehensive audit of Cyprus's books.
“Money for nothing and the chicks for free”
Putin is in gloat mode because Western Europe is propping up fiat currencies and fiat nations while Russia, China, India are voting against fiat paper (illusory) economy by piling up gold. By being buyers on the world market
Those central bankers behind the US Dollar and other fiat currencies despise gold because the better gold/silver look, the worse their fiat currencies look
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