Statement by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL Andros Kyprianou after the meeting with the Ambassador of the Russian Federation
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 27th May 2020, Nicosia
My friend the Ambassador of the Russian Federation and I had the opportunity to exchange views on important issues of concern to both of our countries, but also to the world in general. First, he informed me about the situation with the pandemic in the Russian Federation. This period is the peak period of the pandemic in the Russian Federation, with many cases but fortunately, there are very few deaths in contrast to what is happening in the United States and in EU member states. This is attributed exclusively to the strong health system that exists in the Russian Federation; a health system that was established during the Soviet Union and is still in force. I say this because in our case too we have to draw the correct lessons. That is to say, the public health system must be supported to a very large extent and I am sorry to say that the state health services organisation (OKYPY) seems so far not to have managed to have solved fundamental problems in the public health system.
We exchanged views on the situation internationally. We have expressed our common concern about the way in which Mr. Trump is acting. It is a way which I must say, is putting the entire planet and international organizations such as the World Health Organization in danger.
We discussed issues relating to our bilateral relations. I do not hide our strong concern as AKEL for the fact that we conclude that provisions that were recently included in the laws approved by the US Senate and Parliament are gradually being implemented; provisions of the legislation known as the Rubio-Menendez bill. We see that, whereas the government has been telling us that these developments do not bind it in any way whatsoever, that it is a law that has been unilaterally approved by the United States. We are observing that they are slowly and gradually being implemented. I do not hide from you that we are extremely concerned about all these developments.
The Cyprus problem will slowly begin to be discussed again after the “elections” in the occupied territories and we need Russia’s support so that we can have a solution that will be just under the circumstances, functional and sustainable. Therefore you understand that if we (the Republic of Cyprus) pursue a one-sided policy that ties us to the machine of the USA and the West, then this effort will become extremely difficult, not to say impossible. We therefore address an appeal to the government to pay particular attention to our bilateral relations with the Russian Federation and to ensure that they are put on the correct basis.
I would like to thank our friend the Ambassador of the Russian Federation for the fruitful discussion we had and of course for the support the Russian Federation renders to the Republic of Cyprus, all through these 60 years of diplomatic relations between our countries.
