Then two weeks after his Cairo talks on February 25 President Putin received Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades (pictured) in the Kremlin to discuss a variety of mutual issues. Anastasiades took the occasion to criticize the European Union’s sanctions against Moscow. He declared, “the least I could do is visit Russia during these difficult times to assure it that, despite this situation, our relations will still develop. Whatever sanctions are introduced against Russia, they impact other countries, members of the EU, which include my motherland, that in a lot of ways depends on Russia.”
While that may be of future help to Russia against further EU sanctions, the heart of the talks involved Cyprus-Russia military cooperation. Here Cyprus offered use of its ports to the Russian Navy for certain purposes, “to Russian vessels involved in counter-terrorism and anti-piracy efforts.” The Russian ships will use the Cyprus port of Limassol a civilian port and home of some 30,000 to 50,000 Russians, a quarter of the city’s population. At present Russia’s only Mediterranean Naval port rights are at the Syrian port of Tartus.-- More...
