Cyprus has been put in a difficult position with its closer relationship with Washington as a bill that would lift a 1987 US arms embargo is conditional on Nicosia not offering facilities to Russian navy ships.
Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades described the amendments made to the bipartisan legislation authored by Robert Menendez and Senator Rubio on an updated US strategy in the Eastern Mediterranean as “unfortunate”.
Nicosia has close diplomatic, cultural and business ties with Russia which cannot be easily unpicked, and Cyprus is unlikely to do anything that would harm that relationship
The bill received the green light by the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee and will be forwarded to the Full Senate
It encourages the U.S. to fully support the trilateral partnership of Israel, Greece, and Cyprus through energy and defence cooperation initiatives—including by lifting the prohibition on arms transfers to Cyprus.
But one of the amendments made arm sales conditional on that the “Government of the Republic of Cyprus has made and is continuing to take the steps necessary to deny Russian military vessels access to ports for refuelling and servicing.”
Although Anastasiades welcomed the bill, he regretted the amendments made saying that “to a great extent affect the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus.”
He said provision of services to any country were made on humanitarian grounds.
“And I do not believe that conditions can be set especially with a country, and I am referring to the United States, with which we seek to further enhance our relations,” said Anastasiades.
“I believe the amendment was unfortunate,” he added.
The US recognising the role of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean, a region of geostrategic significance, as particularly important, said government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou.
"We welcome the importance attributed to our country, which reflects the upgrading of the relations between Cyprus and the US," said Prodromou.
But he said Cyprus provides facilities on humanitarian issues as in the case of Lebanon in 2006 and the implementation of the decision taken by the international community to remove chemical weapons from Syria in 2013-2014.
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