On the international-relations front, after 2010, as deposits from Europe left Cypriot banks, deposits from Russian businesses and individuals increased – and Russia has many reasons to use money as a way of buying political control. Cyprus is a crucial staging post for American security operations in the eastern Mediterranean, and the gas fields off the Cypriot coast might be developed as an energy source that would – at least after 2017 – reduce European dependence on Russian supplies.