Once Cyprus takes over the presidency of the Council of Europe, it will develop relations with Russia, said Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides in comments after his meeting with FM Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.
“Our position is that all member states, Russia inclusive, have their role to play in the Parliamentary Assembly, it needs to be there like any other parliamentary delegation of the CoE,” said Kasoulides.
The CoE is an international organisation that promotes human rights, its most recognisable entity is the European Court of Human Rights.
War crimes?
Russia has come under heavy criticism from the EU, UK and US for its support of Syrian president Bashar al Assad, whose forces bombarded civilians in Aleppo. The UN said there were grounds for war crime prosecutions and now Cyprus is in the difficult position of balancing its alliance with Russia against the international powers taking part in the war against ISIS.
While Cyprus is Russia’s ally and has been for 51 years, FM Kasoulides said that Russia doesn’t need the island for its military operations in Syria and called for a solution to the civil war.
“We want, first of all, to pay attention to the humanitarian issue, and following this, a subsequent political process that will lead to a political transition according to the will of the Syrian people,” said Kasoulides.
He denied that Cyprus and Russia have discussed a Russian airbase on the island, dismissing the rumours as media speculation.
“The facts have proven that Russia can go to Syria without needing Cyprus,” said Kasoulides.
“Now, you have mentioned the geographic location of Cyprus, the geographic location of our bases in Hmeymim and Tartus are good enough for us to conduct counter-terrorism operations in Syria,” said Lavrov.
Commenting on the situation in Aleppo, Lavrov said there were other terrorist groups responding to Al Nusra and far more than the 200-300 terrorists estimated by the international coalition that includes the EU, US and UK. Russia has held its fire in Aleppo for two weeks in the wake of the deadly bombings but now demands that the terrorist groups separate or they will become legitimate targets, according to Lavrov’s comments.
“We encourage our western partners and our partners in the region, who have direct eyes and direct influence on various opposition groups, to demand that those opposition groups leave immediately and separate themselves from al-Nusra, so that we can focus on fighting terrorism. If they do not do that, essentially they make themselves complicit in al-Nusra crime and their fair-game. They are legitimate target, based on the decision we made in the UN Security Council,” said Lavrov.
The Syrian airforce and the Russian airforce continue to hold their fire, but this could soon end, if Lavrov’s warnings are anything to go by.
The US and Russia disagree on how to manage their military operations in Syria. Russia supports Assad and the existing government, while the US lumps Assad in with the militants who are attacking civilians.
The entry of international military powers in the Syrian civil war carries the underlying threat of expanding the conflict to the wider region.