Nicosia, May 16 (AP) Some 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in Russian-owned assets managed by Cyprus-registered companies were frozen in compliance with sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Cyprus' Finance Ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry told The Associated Press “the vast majority” of those assets were held in European Union credit institutions and the entire amount came on top of 105 million euros frozen by banks in Cyprus.

Also Read | LGBTQ Rights in Europe: Malta Leads, Poland Lags.

The ministry provided the information in response to European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders saying last week that Cyprus appeared to be falling behind on freezing Russian-owned assets.

Reynders said that while other EU member nations each froze 2-4 billion euros worth of Russian assets, Cyprus' reported sum of around 100 million euros “seems to be a little low.”

Also Read | Relief to Imran Khan: Islamabad High Court Extends Former Pakistan PM’s Bail in Two Cases Until June 8.

The Finance Ministry said this was an error owed to the European Commission receiving incomplete information – an error since rectified by updating a relevant database.

Meanwhile, the Cypriot government is stepping up its supervisory capacity to ensure compliance with international sanctions by setting up a specialized unit modeled after the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), according to the ministry.

The Cyprus government is also keen on joining a European Commission program on supporting “the effective and uniform implementation of sanctions.” (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)