Britain’s foreign secretary Boris Johnson is expected to visit the island next week, while a senior US State Department official is due here on December 1, reports said on Thursday.
President Nicos Anastasiades was informed of Johnson’s visit during a telephone conversation with British prime minister Theresa May, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) said.
The British PM was one of numerous foreign leaders Anastasiades has spoken with in the immediate aftermath of the deadlocked peace talks at Mont Pelerin, Switzerland.
Anastasiades has held telephone conversations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US Vice President Joe Biden, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov, and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini.
The president has sought to explain to foreign leaders the reasons – from his own perspective – for the collapse of the talks.
Meanwhile the state broadcaster reported that Jonathan Cohen, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, is due on the island on December 1.
Cohen, who has been covering Cyprus, Greece and Turkey since August 2016, had served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Nicosia from 2008 to 2011.
In the wake of the gridlocked territory talks in Switzerland, Anastasiades has been at pains to stress that the setback is not the end of the road for the current round of negotiations, which kicked off in earnest in May 2015.
Since the leaders’ return to Cyprus on Monday, however, there has been no indication of when talks might resume.
The president is scheduled to meet with the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide this coming Monday – their first face-to-face since the Switzerland talks broke down.
Also on Thursday, Eide spoke again on the phone with Greece’s foreign minister Nicos Kotzias.
Eide and Kotzias reviewed the latest developments, with the Greek minister reiterating his government’s support for a continuation of the talks process.
The two agreed to meet during Eide’s visit to the region next week.
For its part, the Russian government reacted to what it perceived as undue interference by Western powers in the peace process.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Thursday described as unacceptable “attempts by some of our Western partners to influence from the outside the outcome of the negotiations process or to artificially speed up the process so as to lead to a settlement at any cost,” according to a convenience translation of her remarks.
At the same time, Zakharova said, Russia welcomes the readiness of both sides in Cyprus to work toward reaching a settlement.
“We hope that the considerable momentum of the recent meetings and that constructive approach will continue.”
Moscow was closely monitoring the bi-communal talks, she added.
