Anastassiades promises parade ‘surprise’

By Martin Hellicar

THE S-300s may be history, but the public can expect a big “surprise” defence boost come the October 1 military parade, the leader of ruling Disy, Nicos Anastassiades, has promised.

The December 31 decision to bow to international pressure not to bring the Russian-made S-300 ground-to-air missiles was the current government’s darkest hour.

It has spent a good deal of its time since then desperately rebuffing suggestions the Defence Dogma military pact with Greece was in tatters as a result. The S-300s, ordered for some £ 200 million, were meant to provide air cover for the Paphos air base, so that Greek air force jets could use it to defend the island against a possible Turkish attack.

The missiles were eventually re-directed to Crete.

Anastassiades was keen to assure an audience of student Disy members, whom he addressed on Thursday night, that the National Guard’s arsenal was going from strength to strength. A close look at the Independence Day march past on October 1 would prove to all the “doubters” that the island had more than adequate defence cover and the dogma was alive and kicking, Anastassiades assured his audience.

“The Dogma is a fact that no one can dispute,” the right-wing party leader said. “The Dogma is a political decision that is every day transformed into practical implementation and it should in no way be linked to whether this or that defensive system is here or in Crete or anywhere else,” he said.

He did not disclose what the surprise armaments on show in eight weeks time would be.

Reports on Thursday suggested the National Guard was to receive six TOR-M1 short-range missile systems from Greece as part-exchange for the long-range S-300s deployed in Crete.

House president Spyros Kyprianou yesterday returned from a visit to Crete to see the S-300s at their adopted homes. He said he was well-satisfied with what he had seen.