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The vote in the Parliament of Cyprus on the ratification of the agreement to cut bank deposits has been postponed for tomorrow at 6 pm as announced by the chairman of the Parliament of Cyprus Giannakis Omirou before the media. He said that the delay was due to "changes in the text of the bill, which has not yet been put to a vote by the plenary session."

Giannakis Omirou said that the information about the changes would be presented after the parliamentary committee for economic affairs considers the bill.

Meanwhile the public TV station RIK has announced that there has been a decision under which the banks in Cyprus will remain closed over the next two days in order to prevent the withdrawal of large amounts of money. According to other sources, this period is expected to be extended until the coming Friday.

Finance Minister Michael Sarris said in parliament that he has obtained permission by Commissioner Olli Rehn to reduce the rate of cut of bank deposits to 100 thousand euro. But if it is drastically reduced, this would mean that the amounts exceeding 100 euro will have to be cut by a higher rate in order for the revenues to reach 5.8 billion euro in accordance with the Eurogroup’s decision of last Friday.

The head of the Bank of Cyprus Panikos Dimitriadis stated that the bank deposits of up to 100 euro should not be cut because they were guaranteed by the state and were the guarantee of confidence in the banking system.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia would "reconsider" its relations with Cyprus if the cuts in bank deposits took place, due to the fact that the capital of Russian citizens in Cypriot banks amounted to many billions of euro.

He defined the imposition of such a measure as "confiscation of other people's money." For his part, Gazprom’s head denied the information that his company has offered the Cypriot government to buy two of the island's banks against future profits from the extraction of natural gas. In fact, he confirmed the earlier refutation of the President of Cyprus Nikos Anastasiadis.

The emergency teleconference of finance ministers of the euro zone states is to begin soon, at which they will discuss the possible changes in the bailout to Cyprus.