Russia’s position on the Cyprus solution remains unchanged, in favor of the “principle of bicommunity and bizonality”, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Alexander Grushko, has said.
Grushko visited Athens on January 28-29, holding political consultations with the leadership of the Greek Foreign Ministry.
“The closer the moment comes when the parties in the ‘UN plus 5’ format will gather at the table of discussion – I am not ready to call it the negotiating table, – the more speculations there are about the basis on which they will be conducted. Indeed, in recent years, there have been signals coming from various capitals that the most realistic formula would be the creation of two states, or the creation of a loose federation or a confederation”, Grushko noted in his statement after the political consultations.
“But our position remains unchanged. There are relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, which clearly indicate that the decision should be based on the principle of bicommunity and bizonality”, he underlined.
As regards the military guarantees, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said that it is an “outdated” system, which “should be replaced by the guarantees of the UN Security Council”. “At the same time, of course, much will depend on the position taken by the parties themselves. However, if we talk about the conceptual basis of the forthcoming meeting, and this is confirmed by the signals from the UN Secretary General, it should take place within the framework of those UN Security Council resolutions that once determined the path along which the settlement process should move”, he said.
Grushko stressed that Russia is “strongly interested that the region of the Eastern Mediterranean is not turning into a conflict zone, but remains an arena for cooperation”. “This directly affects the state of Russian security, taking into account existing threats and challenges, and the appearance in this region, in addition to Syria and Libya (…) of another zone of tension will worsen the regional security situation and directly affect the security of the Russian Federation, taking into account the terrorist threat and the tragic experience that we went through in this context”, he concluded.
