Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believes that the Western partners of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, in particular the United States, are persuading the country to join NATO at the cost of a number of conditions directed against Russia. He announced this on January 14 at a press conference dedicated to the results of Russian diplomacy in 2024.

— The modern leaders of Cyprus have partners who would not just like the Cypriots to decide as soon as possible, but who tell them how they need to decide. Including joining NATO. This includes changing their domestic legislation in order to “annoy” Russians who have transferred money to banks, the Russian Foreign Minister stated.

— Just as Serbia is being told what price to pay for membership in the European Union, Cyprus is being told: “Let’s join NATO, there will be no problems in NATO, because we will all be allies, and everything will be fine with the North. But we need to make sure that you have fewer Russians here, and you would remember less about your common history there,” Lavrov explained.

According to TASS, the Russian Foreign Minister added that “there is not and cannot be” “some kind of magic scheme” that Russia could propose to resolve the Cyprus issue.

— The interests of one and the other people must be taken into account. And the countries that are permanent members of the UN Security Council, they were seen as guarantors of this process. Recently, as I understand it, the Five have not been meeting, including with the consent of Nicosia. The Cypriot leadership is working, as I suspect, with the United States,” the Russian Foreign Minister concluded.

Photo by Cyprus News Agency

https://evropakipr.com/novosti/glava-mid-rf-zapad-sklonyaet-kipr-k-chlenstvu-v-nato-cenoy-usloviy-protiv-rossii?fbclid=IwY2xjawHzWEpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHWCDorYp-dgveIDm2wS2_0Am9B8ByplkFZP2epo6EGgpDv6USh8UlAh4SQ_aem_kEDb1GsOO-4H-bnlWsfLdw