EU passports for sale in sunny Cyprus lure rich Russians' cash

New York

IN Limassol, on the southern coast of Cyprus, shop signs in Cyrillic outnumber those in Greek, the local language. Yachts emblazoned with Russian monikers fill berths in a newly built marina. And just past the office of radio station Russkaya Volna, restaurants lining the boardwalk serve pelmeni with, of course, vodka.

This Moscow-on-the-Mediterranean has blossomed as Russians and their money flock to the tiny European Union (EU) outpost to become, in a sense, not Russian.

Long known as a hub for offshore Russian finance - and more recently as a focus of investigations i…