Cyprus is divided. The northern part is Turkish while the larger southern part is Greek. U.N. efforts to find a way to unify the island have failed.

The economy of Greek Cyprus has been dependent on tourism, agriculture and, in recent years, on a financial industry that has come to rely heavily on money deposited by Russians and Ukrainians. The suspicion has been that much of these deposits come from laundered and shady money.

Cyprus, which represents less than 1 percent of the gross domestic product of the eurozone, was allowed to join the zone despite its divided status and question marks over its banks.