Stop ‘face control’ on Russians visiting Cyprus

Beautiful Russian ladies attempting to enter Cyprus are being stopped and turned back because of suspicions that they may be entering the country to work in the cabarets and bars.

“The “face control” that we apply to people entering night clubs here is being applied by immigration officers against Russian females and it has to stop,” said AKEL MP Stavros Evagorou, who believes that Cyprus is losing in the race to attract Russian tourists.

“I fear that we may be looking at a possible 30% decline in arrival of Russian tourists because of visa restrictions and the impolite way with which our immigration officers treat Russians,” said Evagorou.

He revealed that a highly accredited Russian female, member of the famed Bolshoi theatre was turned back at Larnaca airport because her profession was described as “artist” in her passport.

The Director General of the Foreign Ministry, Sotos Zacheos, who was present during the House discussion on the matter said the decline of Russian tourists is not 30% as feared by Evagorou, adding that only recently some 10.000 visas have been given in St. Petersburg alone, while many Russians have also secured multiple-entry visas to Cyprus before the visa restrictions were imposed end of 2003.

Following new meetings held in Moscow to implement better systems, even the rate of visa rejections had declined from the 2.6% or some

144 Russians out of a total of 7755 visa applications during the period, to 1.2% for Russian citizens.

While he admitted that out of 144 rejections, 116 referred to females, Zacheos insisted that there is no discrimination against Russian females.

“I cannot say the same for other CIS citizens, such as Azeris, Georgians, Armenians and other nationalities, for whom the criteria for entry into Cyprus are much tougher,” said Zacheos.