Government sources have denied there are plans to launch direct flights from Russia to breakaway northern Cyprus but turbulence still prevails in Nicosia-Moscow relations, Philenews reported on Wednesday.
On the one hand, it is the sanctions against Moscow by the EU – a decision that Nicosia has to also implement despite Moscow’s objections. And on the other hand, there is the US ban against Russian ships which also includes Cyprus ports and this makes Moscow even more uptight with Nicosia.
Nonetheless, Cypriot officials but also the Russian embassy in Nicosia on Tuesday branded reports over the opening of a direct air connection as ‘detached from reality.
Turkey’s Miliyet newspaper, quoting diplomatic sources, reported on Monday that the government of the Russian Federation has given its approval to direct flights from Russia to Ercan airport in the Turkish-occupied north.
The first flight, according to the report, would take place on November 15, the anniversary of the unilateral declaration of independence and the day the new airport will be inaugurated.
Milliyet also reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would be on the first flight.
Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades who is in New York for the UN General Assembly is scheduled to meet with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday afternoon. And one of the issues expected to be raised is the direct flights.
