Claims of Russia meddling in Cyprus akin to ‘fake news’

Accusations of Russian meddling in the Cyprus issue are false and meant to mislead, Russian Ambassador to Cyprus Stanislav Osadchiy in an op-ed published in Phileleftheros on Sunday.

Osadchiy referred to “various innuendos and fantasies” in relation to Russia’s role in the Cyprus process. “It is all false and does not stand up to scrutiny,” he said.

“The techniques and tricks for distorting the facts is always the same… take some negative detail even quite small and insignificant, and if you can’t, then invent one, put it in the foreground and repeat,” he said.

Osadchiy said he did not think Cypriots would be fooled because Russia’s stance on Cyprus has remained consistent for decades and that was to “search for a just, stable, long-term and peaceful solution to Cyprus on the basis of choices that the Cypriot communities would make for themselves”.

“Unlike other states our country always pursued a firm and consistent position, which does not suffer from opportunistic variations and changes.”

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.