Britain sent a Royal Air Force plane to crisis-hit Cyprus on Tuesday carrying one million euros ($1.3 million) in emergency loans for British military personnel, the defence ministry said. 
 
 The cash cargo flight was a "contingency" plan in case banks in Cyprus stopped giving out money as the island deals with the fallout from a controversial eurozone bailout deal, a spokesman said. 
 
 "An RAF flight left for Cyprus this afternoon with one million euros on board as a contingency measure to provide military personnel and their families with emergency loans," the spokesman said in a statement to AFP. 
 
 "The MoD is proactively approaching personnel to ask if they want their March, and future months' salaries paid into UK bank accounts, rather than Cypriot accounts." 
 
 The British government reaffirmed earlier Tuesday that it would fully refund any military or government personnel whose Cyprus bank accounts were subject to an EU levy that was part of the bailout deal. 
 
 "We're determined to do everything we can to minimise the impact of the Cyprus banking crisis on our people," the spokesman added. 
 
 Britain does not use the euro, having stuck with the pound as its national currency. 
 
 Around 3,000 British troops are based at two military bases in Cyprus, which are used by Britain as a strategic foothold in the Mediterranean, with around 500 civilian personnel. ||||| The RAF flight left the UK earlier this afternoon, with the money onboard designated for emergency loans in the event that cash machines and debit cards stop working on the crisis-hit Mediterranean island. 
 
 The MoD said it is determined to minimise the impact of Cyprus' banking problems on “our people” and it will consider further shipments if required. 
 
 The announcement comes amid moves by the Government today to re-assure British troops posted to Cyprus that they will be fully compensated for any plans to raid their savings. 
 
 The MoD said that as well as sending out the emergency fund, it is asking personnel if they would prefer this and future months' salaries to be paid into UK bank accounts. 
 
 In a statement released today, the MoD said: “An RAF flight left for Cyprus this afternoon with one million euro on board as a contingency measure to provide military personnel and their families with emergency loans in the event that cash machines and debit cards stop working completely...We will keep this under review and consider further shipments if required.“ 
 
 It added: ”The MoD is proactively approaching personnel to ask if they want their March, and future months' salaries paid into UK bank accounts, rather than Cypriot accounts...We're determined to do everything we can to minimise the impact of the Cyprus banking crisis on our people.” 
 
 The position of more than 3,000 British service personnel was thrown into doubt yesterday when Treasury Minister Greg Clark only went as far as saying that they would not suffer “unreasonable losses” as a result of the planned levy. 
 
 However, George Osborne told Cabinet that UK Armed Forces personnel and civil servants posted to Cyprus will be “compensated in full” for any losses as a result of the planned levy on savings. 
 
 The Chancellor's comments confirm a pledge he made on Sunday that “people who are doing their duty for our country in Cyprus will be protected from this Cypriot bank tax”. 
 
 The Cypriot government is planning to impose the levy to secure an international rescue of the country's troubled banks. EU ministers and officials have said 5.8 billion euro (£4.9 billion) of the 15.8 billion euro (£13.5 billion) rescue package must be raised by Cyprus. 
 
 After prompting an outcry from depositors, Cypriot politicians have been considering the possibility that savers with smaller deposits should escape having to pay. 
 
 The country's banks remain closed until Thursday, and analysts are warning that the plans set a troubling precedent, undermine confidence and could trigger an exodus of money. 
 
 Outlining today's Cabinet discussion, Prime Minister David Cameron's official spokesman said: “The Chancellor set out the position that both he and the Foreign Secretary made clear at the weekend, which is that all UK personnel will be compensated in full for any losses as a result of the decisions that may be taken with regard to the Cyprus banking situation. 
 
 “The Chancellor was clear on Sunday that UK personnel will be compensated in full. He reminded the Cabinet of that position.” 
 
 Unlike the previous rescues for Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and Spanish banks, the proposed Cypriot bailout is the first one that dips into people's bank accounts to finance the measures. 
 
 Suggestions have been made that eurozone leaders, particularly in Germany, insisted on the levy because of the large amount of Russian capital kept in Cypriot banks, amid fears of money-laundering. 
 
 The bailout package involves the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Central Bank and European Union. 
 
 Former UK chancellor Alistair Darling told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that the plans involve “everything you shouldn't do when you are trying to solve a problem like this”. 
 
 He said: “They have actually now said to people 'We will come after your deposits, no matter how small your savings are' and that seems to me to make it more likely that, if you are a saver in Spain or in Italy, for example, and you have just the sniff of the EU or the IMF coming your way, you will take your money out and you will get a run on the bank.” 
 
 Tristan Cooper, fixed income sovereign credit analyst at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, said confidence in the security of bank deposits in Cyprus could have been “fatally undermined”. 
 
 He said: “This will likely prompt capital flight once the banks reopen and may necessitate the sustained imposition of capital controls in order to stem an escalating banking crisis.” 
 
 Former Central Bank of Cyprus chief Athanasios Orphanides claimed the government is essentially being “blackmailed” into taking savers' cash. 
 
 He told Bloomberg Television: “What we are witnessing is the slow death of the European Project... 
 
 “What we have seen in the last few days is a very serious blunder by European governments that are essentially blackmailing the government of Cyprus to confiscate the money that belongs rightfully to depositors in the banking sector in Cyprus.” ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Sue Hall runs a wedding business in Cyprus: "Most of the money in my business deposit account belongs to couples who are to get married" 
 
 A crucial vote in Cyprus' parliament on a bailout that has sparked huge public anger has been delayed until Tuesday. 
 
 President Nicos Anastasiades has been meeting MPs in Nicosia and has indicated he wants the terms amended. 
 
 The 10bn-euro ($13bn; £8.6bn) bailout agreed with the EU and IMF had demanded that all bank customers pay a one-off levy and led to heavy cash withdrawals. 
 
 The president's party has 20 seats in the 56-member assembly and needs other parties' support to ratify the deal. 
 
 Asian and European stock markets fell amid uncertainty in Monday's trading. 
 
 If Cyprus' president wants to change something regarding the levy on bank deposits, that's in his hands Joerg Asmussen, European Central Bank governing council Q&A: Cyprus bailoutRussian anger at levy 
 
 Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday called the proposed levy "unfair, unprofessional and dangerous", his spokesman said. Russian banks and businesses have significant deposits in Cyprus. 
 
 'People betrayed' 
 
 The debate and vote in Cyprus' parliament has now been postponed until 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) on Tuesday. It was initially to have been held on Sunday. 
 
 President Anastasiades is at present holding talks with ministers and lawmakers at the parliament building in Nicosia, which has been cordoned off to prevent protests. 
 
 The BBC's Mark Lowen, in Nicosia, says there are suggestions Mr Anastasiades is looking at lowering the cost to those with smaller savings. 
 
 Under the currently agreed terms, depositors with less than 100,000 euros in Cyprus accounts would have to pay a one-time tax of 6.75%. Those with sums over that threshold would pay 9.9%. 
 
 Analysis Reform of how to mend broken banks, which has been negotiated globally and in Europe since the crash of 2007-8, has been based on two central principles. First, that the savings of ordinary people should be protected, up to a high threshold - or 100,000 euros in the European Union for example. And that financial institutions which lend to banks by buying their bonds should incur losses when banks are bailed out: bondholders should, to use the jargon, be bailed in, as part of resolution plans. So what is seen by many as profoundly shocking about the terms of the rescue of Cyprus by the rest of the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund is that both of these principles have been broken. Join Robert for a Twitter Q&A 16:00-1630 GMT 
 
 Our correspondent says the president may want to lower the former rate to 3%, while raising the levy on the larger depositors to 12.5%. 
 
 An EU source told Agence France-Presse there could be a three-way split on the level of levy, grouped into accounts holding less than 100,000 euros, between 100,000 and 500,000 and more than 500,000. 
 
 Joerg Asmussen, a member of the European Central Bank's governing council, said there could be a change to the deal. 
 
 He said: "It's the Cyprus government's adjustment programme. If Cyprus' president wants to change something regarding the levy on bank deposits, that's in his hands. He must just make sure that the financing is intact." 
 
 German government spokesman Steffen Seibert echoed his comments, saying: "How the country makes its contribution, how it makes the payments, is up to the Cyprus government." 
 
 Mr Anastasiades insists that without the bailout Cyprus could face bankruptcy and a possible exit from the eurozone. 
 
 He said on TV on Sunday: "I fully share the unhappiness caused by a difficult and painful decision." 
 
 He also said it was the worst crisis since Turkey invaded in 1974. 
 
 The banks are closed on Monday for a national holiday and could remain shut on Tuesday to avoid mass withdrawals. 
 
 Opposition leader George Lillikas, an independent, said the president had "betrayed the people's vote". 
 
 Russian capital 
 
 Under the bailout's current terms, depositors will be compensated with the equivalent amount in shares in their banks, and Mr Anastasiades promised that those who kept deposits in Cypriot banks for the next two years would be given bonds linked to revenues from natural gas. 
 
 Cyprus announced the discovery of a field containing between 5 and 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas under the Mediterranean Sea in 2011 but Turkey disputes its drilling rights. 
 
 Reports have suggested that eurozone leaders, particularly in Germany, insisted on the levy because of the large amount of Russian capital kept in Cypriot banks, amid fears of money-laundering. 
 
 However, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he and the International Monetary Fund had been in favour of "respecting the deposit guarantee for accounts up to 100,000" euros. 
 
 He said it was the Cypriot government, the European Commission and the European Central Bank that had decided on the levy terms and that "they now must explain this to the Cypriot people". 
 
 Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday: "Assessing the possible decision of imposing additional tax by Cyprus on deposits, [President] Putin said that this decision, if taken, would be unfair, unprofessional and dangerous." 
 
 Unprecedented levy Depositors with under 100,000 euros deposited must pay 6.75% 
 
 Those with more than 100,000 in their accounts must pay 9.9% 
 
 Depositors will be compensated with the equivalent amount in shares in their banks 
 
 The levy is a one-off measure Cyprus bailout - Your stories UK to help troops 
 
 Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said: "It looks simply like the confiscation of other people's money." 
 
 The Moody's ratings agency estimates that, at the end of 2012, Russian banks had placed $12bn in Cypriot banks, with corporate deposits at $19bn. So Russian corporate and individual investors could lose up to $2bn. 
 
 The Russian government also gave Cyprus a 2.5bn euro loan in 2011. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the Interfax news agency on Monday that Moscow would consider extending the loan period and restructuring the repayments. 
 
 The proposed savings levy has drawn criticism from economic analysts. Michael Hewson, of CMC Markets, told the Press Association: "If European policymakers were looking for a way to undermine the public trust that underpins the foundation of any banking system they could not have done a better job." 
 
 It is clear that negotiators of the bailout in Brussels drastically underestimated the reaction in Cyprus, says our correspondent, Mark Lowen. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Renaissance Capital's Ivan Tchakarov: "Russians are not happy about the bailout levy" 
 
 A tiny eurozone economy feels it is being blackmailed by the most powerful, and the growing resentment will do nothing to foster European solidarity, he adds. 
 
 If the levy goes ahead, it will affect many non-Cypriots with bank accounts, including UK expatriates. 
 
 However, depositors in the overseas arms of Cypriot banks will not be hit. Bank of Cyprus UK and Laiki Bank UK both confirmed on their websites that there would be no impact. 
 
 Chancellor George Osborne said the UK would compensate any government employees and military personnel whose bank accounts were affected.
– How's this for a tangible sign of the banking mess in Cyprus: Britain's Royal Air Force is flying in a plane loaded with 1 million euros so its troops stationed there don't get stuck without cash, reports the Independent. The defense ministry made the move after the crisis raised fears that ATMs and debit cards would stop working. Troops also get the option of having their pay deposited into UK bank accounts instead of Cypriot ones. "We're determined to do everything we can to minimize the impact of the Cyprus banking crisis on our people," says a ministry spokesman. Britain, which doesn't even use the euro as its national currency, has about 3,000 troops and 500 civilian personnel in Cyprus, reports Yahoo News.