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29th March 2024
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HomeLettersRussian roulette in Cyprus

Russian roulette in Cyprus

I WAS deeply concerned to hear the news about the latest ‘brainwave’ for a theme park in Larnaca area, especially because of who is supposedly financing it. After having personal experience of working and living in Russia for 6 months in 2005/6, the persistent ‘brown-nosing’ of Russians for their capital now seems to have extended to the top level of government here.

I am amazed at the naivety of many Cypriots about the façade which is presented by Russians who have enormous sums of money for the simple reason that the reality of Russia and who actually wields the political and financial power there is frightening!

Concern is already being raised about the extent to which these people have infiltrated the financial affairs of the city of London and questions are now being asked increasingly more frequently, but here in Cyprus it seems that they are being encouraged, rather than controlled effectively and on a proportional basis the amount of Russian capital invested in!

Cyprus is enormous. The Presidents recent visit to Moscow, although hailed as a major success by most of the media here, did not highlight that at the same time, the Russian Defence Minister was in Ankara, concluding a billion dollar deal with Turkey, nor was much said about why Putin, still the most powerful person in Russia, shunned Christofias after he held a two hour meeting with Zhuganov, the now unimportant and much derided Communist party chief??? No doubt his Russian hosts were squirming too when the president started reminiscing with nostalgia at a press conference about his student days there under the Soviet regime, which was a total failure and collapsed from within, as all the world knows!

My wife is originally from Famagusta and we returned here in 1979 believing that we would soon be able to return home, but nearly 30 years later we are still waiting, perhaps in vain that something just might finally happen in that direction?

I would add that I have nothing against ordinary Russian people and have some very close friends there but at the same time I do not welcome cohorting with the elite from there, many of whom are no more than sophisticated swindlers and even downright criminals!

So much for the two page report in the latest Cyprus Weekly on the latest annual Cyprus-Russian business forum which tries to promote Russia as an excellent place to do business…..of course things like the massive endemic corruption, gagging of the media by the authoritarian regime, murder of journalists and human rights campaigners there and lack of a civil society were not give any attention I suppose? The Greek-Cypriots lambast the world ad nauseam with their constant moaning about Turkey violating their rights in Cyprus etc, etc. So forgive me if I think this is a little hypocritical, especially when they have joined the E.U. etc and should be looking towards Europe, not kow-towing to Russia?

As my best friend in Moscow told me earlier today, people there are losing their jobs continually, just as in many other developed countries due to the recession and if the Greek-Cypriots think the Russians will save their tourist industry, or their economy, they are living in cuckoo land!

Anyone can go to Google videos for example and freely watch excellent documentaries such as ‘Railway of Bones’ and ‘Disbelief-Russia 1999’. I wonder what the Cypriots would then have to say afterwards?

Kind regards,

Mr S
Famagusta

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