Brussels, 04/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - President of Cyprus Demetris Christofias has said that the conditions set by Russia in granting a loan would be less onerous than those imposed by its other potential donors, the EU and the IMF. “It is being said that Cyprus is putting its independence at risk with the Russian Federation”, he said on Wednesday 4 July on the sidelines of the plenary session of the European Parliament where he set out the priorities of the Cypriot Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers (see related article). He emphasised that Moscow was not imposing any conditions on Cyprus and, indeed, was offering very low interest rates. The Cypriot leader spoke, too, of “cultural and traditional” links between his country and Russia, links which “go back a long way”. He pointed out that Russia was an EU partner, “not an enemy”. Earlier, Graham Watson (ALDE, UK) had called on Christofias to use his six-month presidency to “lead by example” and not be “mortgaged to Moscow”.
Last year, Cyprus received a €2.5 billion loan from Russia. Christofias, the EU's only Communist leader, studied in Moscow. Cyprus's potential institutional creditors, the Troika made up of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF, are hard at work in Nicosia, assessing the country's budgetary and macroeconomic situation, and working out the aid it will need. This could be as much as €10 billion, according to the Cypriot press. (EL, with MD/transl.rt)