Anastasiades must proceed without regressions

Statement by Aristos Damianou, member of the Political Bureau of the CC of AKEL and AKEL MP on Lavrov’s important references to the Cyprus problem

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 23 February 2019, Nicosia

At a time when the voices calling for an “out of the box” solution are getting louder, the statements made by the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Mr. Sergey Lavrov that the solution must be found within the agreed framework as set out in the UN resolutions, as well as that the existing regime of external guarantees for Cyprus is anachronistic and no longer corresponds to reality, are important.

The steadfast support of the Russian Federation based on positions of principles regarding the Cyprus problem underlines the necessity that the Anastasiades-DISY government change its orientation by pursuing a multidimensional foreign policy, making further use of the role of both Russia and the other members of the UN Security Council instead of persisting on the “We belong to the West” dogma.

The upcoming Tuesday meeting between the leaders of the two communities is important. Mr. Anastasiades must, without any regressions, adopt the acquis of the talks and the Guterres Framework, as well as the informal document on the implementation of the solution, facilitating the attempt to reach an agreement on the terms of reference. Any other handling will continue to offer an excuse to the Turkish side and distance the prospect of reaching an agreement on the terms of reference and the resumption of talks from where they had remained at Crans Montana as soon as possible.