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Cyprus on Monday became the fifth eurozone country to seek a bailout, with the finance ministers of the common currency area saying they would "swiftly" study the request for money from Europe's emergency funds.

The news came less than a week before the island is due to take over the European Union's rotating presidency, for the first time since it joined the bloc in 2004.

The economic crisis gripping the eurozone has already forced Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain into seeking outside financial help to varying degrees.

Cyprus justified its request by pointing to the impact of the crisis in Greece as the banks of both countries are intertwined.

"The purpose of the required assistance is to contain the risks to the Cypriot economy, notably those arising from the negative spillover effects through its financial sector, due to its large exposure in the Greek economy," the government said in a statement.

It did not mention a potential amount for the bailout.

It is known that the country's second-largest lender, Cyprus Popular Bank, needs 1.8 billion euros ($2.2 billion) by Saturday to bring its core tier 1 capital in line with EU standards.

Russia, which has granted Cyprus financial aid in the past, this month said it was prepared to offer another 5 billion euros.

The Cypriot economy is one of the EU's smallest, with a gross domestic product of around 17.5 billion euros.

When asked how much money the Cypriots would ask for and whether they would want a bailout limited to just the banking sector - similar to Spain's request - a Brussels diplomat told dpa that "nobody can say for sure."

Cyprus said it would like help from the existing European Financial Stability Facility or the future European Stability Mechanism, which is still in the process of being ratified by the eurozone's 17 member states.

"The Eurogroup will now swiftly examine the request and will provide a formal response to Cyprus," the president of the eurozone finance ministers' panel, Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker, said in a statement late Monday.

Should a bailout be granted, the island will be assigned reforms by its European creditors. Juncker said he expects that "Cyprus will engage with strong determination in the required policy actions," noting that they are likely to target mainly the financial sector.

Earlier Monday, the ratings agency Fitch had downgraded Cyprus' sovereign credit rating to junk status, lowering it by one notch to BB+ from BBB-.

In a statement, Fitch said its estimates of the losses and capital needs of Cypriot banks were subject to "considerable uncertainty."

"The downgrade of Cyprus's sovereign ratings reflects a material increase in the amount of capital Fitch assumes the Cypriot banks will require compared to its previous estimate ... in January 2012," its statement said.

"This is principally due to Greek corporate and households exposures of the largest three banks -- Bank of Cyprus, Cyprus Popular Bank and Hellenic Bank -- and to a lesser degree the expected deterioration in their domestic asset quality," it added.