The Department of Forests is searching for firefighting helicopters, as the contract with a Russian company has expired and has not been renewed for the new season, nor has there been a response.
The sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia for the invasion of Ukraine seems to have stood in the way of the descent again this year of Russian firefighting equipment used in major fires in previous years.
Ahead of the summer season, a tender has been called again in order to find flying equipment which is valuable for fighting fires, the Director of the Forestry Department, Haralambos Alexandrou, told the Cyprus Times.
"The tender has been re-advertised with some modifications to the amount and we expect to get a response from other countries as the contract for the Russian aircraft was not renewed. We don't even know if because of the sanctions these means could operate in Cyprus" he said.
As Alexandrou made clear in no case will Cyprus be left exposed as he is optimistic that a solution will be found and other countries will show interest in reaching an agreement.
Finally, he noted that 8 air assets were estimated in the initial planning and this remains.
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
