Cyprus ‘expects’ Russian aid

Cyprus’s president expects near-unconditional Russian aid and hopes for EU funds.

Demetris Christofias, the president of Cyprus, said today (5 July) that he “expects” Russia to come to the country’s aid as it tries to cope with the effects of its banking system’s exposure to Greece.

Christofias confirmed that “we have turned to Russia and we do expect a positive reply”, but also said that his country, which assumed the rotating presidency of the EU’s Council of Ministers on 1July, still hopes for EU support.

“We asked Russia and the EU at the same time,” he told journalists in Nicosia. “Let’s hope we manage both.”

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Christofias did not provide details of his country’s request to Russia and nor has his government – there are suggestions that the country might need a total of €10 billion – but the president said that Russia’s offer had only one string attached, the interest rate charged on the loan.

He also said that he expects any agreement struck with the EU to be on harsher terms.

Addressing the European Parliament yesterday (4 July), he said that Russia was also offering a “a lower interest rate” than would be available from the EU.

An EU-led delegation from a troika of institutions – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – arrived in Cyprus on Tuesday (3 July) to discuss the terms of possible EU/IMF support.

The Cypriot president, the EU’s only Communist leader and a man with good personal relations with Moscow, struck a defensive note at a press conference, saying: “I do not understand why it is wrong for a country that has very good traditional relations with a third country…a country that is ready to assist us unconditionally (of course, there is interest), to ask it for assistance.”

“I don’t think this is a sin,” he said.

He added that he had mentioned Cyprus’s interest in Russian support at a summit of EU leaders last week (28-29 June). He insisted that his country would be able to pay back loans offered. “It would be terrible if were not to pay them back,” he said. “We would be…condemning our people to poverty.”