Deal to reroute missiles ratified

By Martin Hellicar

CYPRUS and Greece yesterday rubber-stamped their controversial joint decision to deploy the S-300 missiles in Crete rather than Cyprus.

The agreement to redirect the Russian-made ground-to-air missiles was signed in Athens yesterday afternoon by Cyprus Defence Minister Yiannakis Chrysostomis and his Greek counterpart, Akis Tsohatzopoulos.

Chrysostomis is to visit Moscow next week to seek Russian consent for Cretan deployment.

Speaking after a three-hour meeting, Tsohatzopoulos said that all details regarding the missiles’ transportation to Greece and their installation there had been finalised. He said the S-300s had also been discussed in relation to the joint Cyprus-Greece Defence pact, and it had also been decided how the missiles fitted into the framework of the pact.

“Greece and Cyprus have a common defence against any threat,” Tsohatzopoulos told reporters after meeting Chrysostomis. “Greece guarantees the security of Cyprus.”

Tsohatzopoulos declined to specify exactly when the missiles would be taken to Greece, and he did not divulge any details about the financial aspects of the deal.

Asked if Cyprus would be getting a different type of missile from Greece in place of the S-300, he again avoided specifics, saying only that “measures would be taken” to ensure that Cyprus could defend itself.

Bowing to mounting international pressure, President Clerides announced on December 29 last year that the £200 million missiles, ordered in late 1997, were not coming to Cyprus. Turkey had threatened to attack the missiles if they were deployed in Cyprus, prompting the EU, US and UN to push Nicosia to rethink the order.

The government has made it clear that the missiles are to be deployed and not simply stored in Crete. Reports yesterday suggested Greece would be paying the outstanding amount (about £10 million) owed to the Russian manufacturers and would be stationing in Cyprus some form of shorter-range air-defence system to replace the S-300s.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.