Russia to gain military bases in Cyprus?

[Wokkafans]

Article in Business Insider claiming that Cyprus is to sign a deal on Feb 25 to give Russia access to military facilities in Cyprus. These are speculated to be at Andreas Papandreou Paphos airport and Limasol.

Are there any existing agreements with Cyprus that would allow/preclude this?

Russia is getting military bases in an EU stateRead more: http://uk.businessinsider.com/russia-military-agreement-in-cyprus-2015-2?r=US#ixzz3RBXXHu56

Additional link from Lenta.Ru

http://translate.google.co.uk/transl...u/&prev=search

[Bigbux]

Love it. This one's better than Fencers for Fray Bentos.

[Herod]

And there was me thinking that the EU was imposing sanctions on Russia. Mind you, the new government in Greece seems to want a lot of them lifted.

[Swil]

Another excuse for the price of Chris Kebab to go up, B*gg**

[ORAC]

How soon we forget.....

[Al R]

It was all going so well without Russians too. If Limassol gets placed out of bounds for a bit, where to go? Commercial opportunities in Aki village might shake the trend and kebab prices will creep up, if that's at all possible (my last visit a couple of years ago). Chris will be rubbing his hands. The Russians used to have a flat opposite a car dealers in Limassol, an open secret as I recall. How they can afford this expansionism I don't kno.. oh, hang on.. yes, that's right. The Russian sovereign pension fund is picking up the tab.

[TEEEJ]

The Russian use of Cypriot facilities has been in discussion for a while now. The Cypriots also have similar agreements with France for the use of Paphos airport. Usually this news of Russian military using Cypriot facilities normally gets bent out of shape.

Some quotes from the Cypriot Defence Minister back in 2013.

Cypriot Defense Minister Fotis Fotiu told the Nicosia daily Fileleftheros the country was "studying the possibility of providing in certain cases" the use of the Andreas Papandreou Air Force Base for Russian military aircraft.

Asked if use of the Paphos airbase will be granted only to Russia or other countries as well, the defense chief noted the only other agreement for Andreas Papandreou is with France, which dates to 2007.

...it is no different than services other countries provide for foreign armed forces..... But what I want to make clear is that no discussion about a permanent base in Cyprus for Russia ...

Cyprus considering Russian use of Limassol port, Paphos airbase - UPI.com

The Russian Navy already uses Cypriot ports for refuelling. The agreement to use Paphos will be similiar to the current agreement with France to allow military tranport flights. France already uses Paphos as a logistics hub and for emergency evacuation of citizens in the region. Somehow I can't see Cyprus allowing Russia to use Paphos for anything other than military transport flights similar to the French agreement.

[AGS Man]

I remember back in 1985 or 86 there was a photo on the front page of one of the Cyprus papers of 2 "Mig 21's" at Larnaca Airport.
Akrotiris runway was blocked and the 2 Lightnings diverted there!

[Could be the last?]

The turning point for Cyprus was early 2012 during the banking collapse. Nothing happens on the island now unless the Russians say so, with major infra and government projects bankrolled by the Russians it will only be a matter of time before they get a permanent military footprint in the South.

[FlapJackMuncher]

That brings back memories of one of the many trips to Paphos taking the girls back to school.
We left Aki in dense fog which cleared on the way.
At Paphos were 2 VC-10's, quietly parked up, on the stands.
No sign of any crew or passengers.

[FAStoat]

I was going to buy an Appartment in Limassol with my Wife,up past the roundabout beyond the Zoo and the Seaman's Mission.We were about to flee the UK getting a permanent job with Eurocypria on the 320 with Wife in Operations.All looked super until the Ex Caledonia Brits got shafted,and Eurocypria went indiginous like Cyprus Airways.The Bank had queues of Russians needing interpreters to open Bank Accounts,Woolworths was busy with Amex Gold Card Russkies with Gold Rolexes buying mountains of Frozen goods about to defrost as soon as they got out to the car park.The "Yes Please"restaurant we used near the Empress Star of India,suddenly had English and Russian menus,and then Hero Square was in the middle of an ambush from opposing ?Russian Mafia in broad daylight,and a Black Merc's Occupants were hand grenaded from a Moped.Large crates of "Farming Machinery" were seen to be off loaded from Antonovs,to be reloaded onto others bound for the Serbian conflict!!It was time to quit,and put "Ladies Mile" and the brilliant Restaurant,at the end of the lane with Fishing nets in the roof and old wagon wheels outside,the owners of which invited any Brits (especially Ex Akrotiri),to join the Parties/Weddings, to now be just memories.That was in the 90s,so it must be terrible now?????????????????

[salad-dodger]

At Paphos were 2 VC-10's, quietly parked up, on the stands.
No sign of any crew or passengers.

Isn't that normal when aircraft are parked?

S-D

[ian16th]

That was in the 90s,so it must be terrible now?????????????????

Is there anything left at all, that us old sods that lived out in Limassol in the early 60's would remember?

[hunterboy]

Probably not...they even renamed most of the streets after the Turkish invasion. It does seem like Moscow in the Summer now.

[Flightwatch]

From today's Cyprus Mail. The bases should be announced any day then?!

There has never been, and indeed there is no question of Russian air or naval military bases on Cypriot soil, said Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, on the sidelines of the Foreign Affairs Council, in Brussels.

“Besides, there has never been any request from Russia about this”, the minister told the Cyprus News Agency.
Kasoulides clarified that “what President Nicos Anastasiades referred to, in a recent interview, was the renewal of a military cooperation agreement with Russia consisting of maintenance of military equipment sold to Cyprus years ago, as well as the purchase of spare parts in line with existing contracts.”
As regards offering facilities “these are of a purely non-military nature, they relate to humanitarian nature matters such as the evacuation of Russian civilians from the Middle East if the need arises”.

[Sandy Parts]

hmm - the same "humanitarian aid" as demonstrated crossing the border from Russia to Ukraine? Looks like a military hardware, smells like military hardware - on no wait, here's a hastily attached sticker saying "humanitarian aid"! You've got to admire Putin and his cronies for the sheer cheek in playing the West so successfully at their own game (spin/media manipulation etc).

[Bigbux]

Putin's "humanitarian aid" convoys were empty. Their purpose was to nick industrial machines used in the manufacture of key military hardware and ship them back to Russia. Pretty much the way they did in East Germany.

[glad rag]

Originally Posted by hunterboy

Probably not...they even renamed most of the streets after the Turkish invasion. It does seem like Moscow in the Summer now.

Bit like Swaffam then...