International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and media partners

Cyprus Confidential

Investigations by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and 68 media partners — more than 270 journalists — expose and explore “in vivid, painstaking detail how the island nation of Cyprus has helped finance Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, allowing his inner circle to shelter billions of dollars from the threat of sanctions from Europe and the U.S.,” 

Managing Editor Fergus Shiel wrote in a nomination letter. “For more than a decade, an astonishing flood of Russian money has been pouring into Cyprus — a member of the European Union — and yet EU and Cyprus officials did nothing. It was only the publication of Cyprus Confidential that brought action — by exposing this sprawling, secretive financial system and how it was fueling Putin’s war.”

The reporting collaboration Cyprus Confidential, which spanned eight months and was based on 3.6 million leaked files, also revealed that Cypriot financial services providers helped Putin allies shelter their wealth and hide billions of dollars, “even as sanctions came down in the wake of Russia’s full-scale Ukraine invasion.”