Russians are arriving en masse in Northern Cyprus, property prices have skyrocketed.

In the office of real estate company Hub emlak in North Cyprus, a young Kazakh man, Ruslan Ibrayev, greets clients and says that Russian-speaking people love living here, they love being part of the community and the area is getting bigger and bigger every day. Ibraev says the region has become a real magnet for buyers from former Soviet republics, so buyers have moved into the area in communities.

Ruslan praises the agency's record fast real estate sales, saying "things are going well, and even very well." According to information relayed to 10Haber, builders share the same view. Cyprus is experiencing a construction boom. Growing real estate in the region, thanks to rising cash flow and the fact that about 80%' of the'bank assets are made up of foreign currency reserves, attracting investment of rubles and Iranian rials, and residential skyscrapers are rising in the region.

With the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Russian oligarchs and organizations, including Roman Abramovich, have been heavily sanctioned by both Europe and the United States. This has caused Russians looking to secure their money to turn their attention to places outside of Europe. And it seems that one of these new safe areas is the northern part of the Cypriot island, which has been divided for several years now. The village of İskele, which was once an ordinary town in Northern Cyprus, has been turned into a concrete jungle. The Cypriot Turks have started calling İskele the 'Moscow of the Mediterranean', the new Limassol, the resort''a city in South Cyprus that was noted for its important role when oligarchs flocked to Limassol after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The streets of İskele are now also adorned with Cyrillic signage, billboards promising a 'fabulous life', stunning car dealerships and places selling cryptocurrency.

Political analyst Sertaç Sonan, who says in an interview with The Guardian that "Northern Cyprus is a de facto state. It is not recognized by international treaties, its institutions are weak, and it is only recognized by Turkey," says it is a gray area ideal for those who want to do dark deeds. They say the increased anxiety among Greeks on the southern part of the island, caused by the closure of thousands of Russian accounts and the imposition of sanctions, has led to "almost complete'''stopping' the illegal movement of Russian capital in the south. The West recognizes the leader of the Greek Cypriot government, Nikos Christodoulides, who made the list less than nine months ago when he closed more than 120 dubious bank accounts and more than 40,000 shell companies. However, money laundering has become one of the most pressing problems in the north. Legal loopholes in the south of the island have allowed Russians to divert their funds to the north in recent times.

Alexander Apostolides, an economics researcher at Cyprus European University and a consultant to the Cypriot government, says: "Major changes are required. Unless there is reform to create an office of sanctions and a single supervisor of laundering''money, then another scandal is about to happen, and it's obvious." The South Cypriot government promises to show "zero tolerance" for sanctions violations and to get technical assistance from the British government to set up a sanctions enforcement unit next year.

Official figures show that more than 39,000 Russians have moved to Northern Cyprus this year alone. However, analysts still question how clean the network of lawyers and accountants in the south, which has been working with Russians for years, is.

Turkey's refusal to impose sanctions on Moscow'\' has contributed to the cash flow from Russia'\' to Northern Cyprus'\', with Turkey'\''s refusal to impose sanctions on Moscow'\', a NATO member, being the determining factor. Prof. Mustafa Besim, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics at Eastern Mediterranean University, said, "NorthernCyprus is moving forward following Turkey's decision not to impose sanctions on Moscow. Here they can easily deposit money in any of the 22 banks," he says. On whether money is really being laundered, Besim said, "It's a bit like the wind. You can't see it but you feel it." Economist Mertkan Hamit said, "The commercial network of Greek Cypriots serving Russians in the South has turned into a new network that develops portfolios for Turkish Cypriot lawyers from scratch. At this point, whose assets are completely anonymous, there is the beauty of laundering money without asking questions and doing it illegally. Their real goal is not to stay in Cyprus. It is to sell their assets, launder the money and go to London, Dubai, Manhattan."'gives.

Under the real estate system, investors can buy as many properties as they want and circumvent foreigners' laws that allow them to own more than three properties. Turkish Cypriot authorities have vowed to take action on this issue. The government and the opposition have pledged to work jointly on new anti-money laundering laws. However, it is said to have been ignored by the government because of the huge amount of money to be made from building permits, transfer taxes and commissions.