by Kikapu » Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:13 pm
Lavrov pledges Russian backing for Cyprus
By Jean Christou
RUSSIAN Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday he would be proposing to the UN Security Council that it pay special attention to Greek Cypriot proposals to move the Cyprus issue forward.
He was referring to the recent eight-point initiative by President Tassos Papadopoulos, addressed to the UN to help move forward the stalled July 8, 2006 agreement, and said he was surprised UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon did not mention it in his recent report on Cyprus.
Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Papadopoulos yesterday morning, Lavrov said relations between Cyprus and Russia were very satisfactory.
“We had a rich agenda,” he said of his meeting with Papadopoulos.
“We discussed the economy, trade, investments, culture, tourism, military and technical co-operation, education, science. We discussed yesterday and today ways to promote these relations,” said Lavrov, who ended his two-day visit yesterday afternoon.
“We are grateful to President Papadopoulos for his consistent position in favour of developing the Russia-EU partnership and other issues which concern the international community and the EU,” Lavrov said.
He said Russia was interested in helping find a settlement to the Cyprus issue based on the Security Council resolutions,
“We welcome the recent eight-point initiative by President Papadopoulos, which was addressed to the United Nations, and we believe that this initiative is an offer, a very good mechanism to start implementing the July 8 Agreement, which was endorsed by the leaders of the two communities and supported by the UN,” he added.
“When we discuss Cyprus at the Security Council, our suggestion will be to pay special attention to the proposals by President Papadopoulos and I hope this will bring results.”
Asked to comment on the issue of isolation of the Turkish Cypriots, Lavrov said: “When we discuss the Cyprus issue we should mention the real facts, because the Cyprus government makes a lot of efforts to support the Turkish Cypriot community.”
He said that these facts were supported by the statistics included in the reports of the European Commission.
“I express the hope that in the future the Secretary-General’s reports will reflect the true facts,” Lavrov added.
Asked later yesterday if Russia, one of the Security Council’s Big Five, might not approve Ban’s references to Turkish Cypriot isolation in his report, Government Spokesman Vassilis Palmas said he not wish to jump to conclusions, but: “Russia will not accept such a proposal at the Security Council".
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you instigated provocation, and I challenge you to prove to me otherwise.
