The US government on Monday removed five Cyprus-related individuals and three legal entities from its list of nationals designated as having engaged in “harmful foreign activities of the Russian Federation”.

The list is compiled by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac).

The Specially Designated Nationals list was created pursuant to Executive Order 14024 establishing “a new national emergency under which sanctions may be imposed against individuals and entities furthering specified harmful foreign activities of the Russian Federation.”

It is separate from the “national emergency” relating to the crisis in Ukraine.

The names deleted from the list are five individuals and three legal entities (companies) associated with one of the individuals. Two of the three legal entities had a registered address in Cyprus.

One of the individuals is Demetrios Sergides, designated as under “secondary sanctions risk”. Sergides was said to be linked to Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov, a Russian-Uzbek metals magnate hit with US, UK and EU sanctions in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The other individuals are: Kyriakos Attikouris, linked to the company Windfel Properties Ltd; Costas Yiannakou, linked to Almenor Holdings Ltd; Marilena Georgiou, linked to Almenor Holdings Ltd; and Antonis Kyriakou Vakanas, a UK passport holder linked to Windfel Properties Ltd.

The three companies deleted from Ofac’s list are: Omnia Services Cyprus Ltd, with a registered address in Limassol and linked to Demetrios Sergides; Hightrail Ltd, with a registered address in Limassol and linked to Demetrios Sergides; and Omnia Antibes, with a registered address in France, linked to Demetrios Sergides.

The US government’s Executive Order 14024 addresses “national security threats posed by specified harmful foreign activities of the Russian Federation, including: its efforts to undermine the conduct of free and fair democratic elections and democratic institutions in the United States and its allies and partners; engaging in and facilitating malicious cyber-enabled activities against the United States and its allies and partners; fostering and using transnational corruption to influence foreign governments; pursuing extraterritorial activities targeting dissidents or journalists; undermining security in countries and regions important to United States national security; and violating well-established principles of international law, including respect for the territorial integrity of states.”