By Jean Christou
ITALY had no idea the Cyprus government planned to cancel a deal for a batch of Aspide anti-aircraft missiles, the embassy in Nicosia said yesterday.
“We did not receive any communication from the government,” a senior official at the Italian embassy told the Cyprus Mail.
The official said they had seen a report in Phileleftheros on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources claiming the Cyprus government was no longer interested in purchasing the missiles.
But it wasn’t until government spokesman Costas Serezis confirmed the contents of the Phileftheros report that the embassy realised the government appeared to have changed its mind.
“We did not receive anything from them,” the official said. “In fact, we had indications that things were moving in a positive direction.”
The Aspide issue has been ongoing for more than two years. In October 1997, Cyprus signed the contract with Italian firm Alinea, which was due to be implemented within a year.
However, Rome began to stall in the wake of the tension surrounding the government’s order for the Russian-made S-300 long-range air defence system, and refused throughout last year to grant an export licence for the Aspide system.
The government in Rome claimed the delays were for technical reasons, but with last December’s cancellation of the S-300 deal, Italy suddenly said it was ready to renegotiate the Aspide deal with Cyprus.
But according to the reports this week, the Cyprus government is no longer interested.
“We had a contrary impression,” the embassy official said. “What we read today is new. It’s a different story altogether.”
Government spokesman Costas Serezis was yesterday quoted as saying the Italians had taken too long to reach a decision on the Aspides.
“It was too late for us by the time the Italian government changed its mind, ” Serezis said, adding that the government had made other arrangements.
The government said last year it was considering buying a batch of short-to medium-range Russian missiles if the Aspide deal failed to materialise.
The Russian-made TOR-M1 option (with a range of 12km), and the Aspides (with a range of 18km), were both suitable ground-to-air options to protect the long-range S-300s.
The Aspide option was considered cheaper at the time, in view of the National Guard’s existing stock of the Italian missiles.
Even without the 150km-range S-300s, the Aspide system remains a viable option for Cyprus, which has no air defence system.
Former Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou, who quit the government with his Edek party over the cancellation of the S-300s, was reported as saying yesterday that he could not understand the government’s U-turn on the Aspides in favour of the Russian TOR- M1s. Omirou said he believed Cyprus should not rely entirely on Russian defence systems, and that unlike the TORs, which must come through Greece, the Aspides could be brought directly to Cyprus.
