MOSCOW--Cyprus requested a EUR5 billion loan from Russia to help bail out its ailing economy, Russia's finance minister Anton Siluanov said at the State Duma Friday.

"Cyprus asked us and the EU for loans, the EU is looking into it, so are we," Mr. Siluanov said.

Konstantin Vyshlovsky, the head of the state debt department at the ministry, said that although Russia will make its decision on whether to grant Cyprus a loan independently of the European Union, "we will take the EU decision in close consideration".

In 2011 Cyprus borrowed 2.5 billion euros from Russia to cover its refinancing needs for this year, but its problems have increased due to a banking crisis stoked by the economic woes in Greece.

(Olga Razumovskaya in Moscow contributed to this story.)

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