If and when some of the measures proposed by the EU against Russia do not help and are not in line with the EU's objective, then they will simply not be adopted, President Nicos Anastasiades said today.
In his statements to journalists on the sidelines of the laying of the foundation stone of the new wing of the EOKA Fighters' Memorial in Palodia, the President of the Republic was asked to refer to the discussion that will take place on Monday in the EU regarding the imposition of sanctions against Russia and how the Cypriot Government will move on this issue.
What we have said is that they should be targeted in order to have an effect. At the same time, the impact on the Member States should also be taken into account by the European partners, and ultimately, instead of being sanctions against the intruder, they should be sanctions against the Member States. So we will act accordingly.
We are in favour of EU unity, in favour of measures to be taken when international law is violated. And this certainly cannot exclude Cyprus."
Asked if there is a possibility that we might not participate, the President said that "there is no such thing. What there is is that if and when some of the measures that they are proposing which we have pointed out and we have shown with documentation that they are not helpful, are not towards the objective that the EU is pursuing, simply those particular measures will not be adopted."
Asked whether there is a possibility to open the discussion on NATO membership for Cyprus, President Anastasiades said that "I think it is too premature to discuss something like that, there are serious problems that even if the Cyprus Government wanted to do so, it would have come up against procedural issues and especially the refusal of Turkey. Unanimity is needed for a (state) to become a member of NATO. Apart from that, we are a small country, we need protection, of course, the point is that the protection must be effective and decisions must be approved by the people.
(PM/IK)
Contents of this article including associated images are owned by PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
Source
