PUTIN: Cyprus Bank Levy Is 'Unjust, Unprofessional, And Dangerous'

MOSCOW (AP) — The spokesman for Vladimir Putin says the Russian president is strongly critical of a plan to levy a tax on depositors in Cyprus. Russian companies have an estimated $19 billion in Cypriot bank accounts. Russians have for years seen Cyprus as an investor-friendly jurisdiction with lax banking regulations and low taxes. A proposed bailout of Cyprus's economy would impose taxes on bank deposits of up to 9.9 percent. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the president criticized...