Philaniotis- “Cypriots respect Russia, despite the deterioration of official relations.”

Residents of Cyprus love and respect Russia, despite the deterioration of official relations at the behest of the European Union, Mikis Filaniotis, chairman of the Cyprus-Russia Friendship and Cultural Relations Society, told RIA Novosti.

Tuesday, August 18, marked the 66th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Cyprus.

“Despite the fact that in recent years official relations between our states have clearly deteriorated in many areas, such as the economy, tourism, and services, due to the full initiative and instructions of the EU leadership, Cypriots still continue to respect and love Russia,” Filaniotis told the agency.

The chairman of the friendship society noted that the roots of the friendly relations between Cyprus and Russia are very deep and strong, and that the majority of Cypriots support maintaining good relations between the countries.

“As people’s diplomats, we are trying to replace, at least partially, political diplomacy, which has largely atrophied; even the basic courtesy and hospitality that are characteristic of our people have been forgotten,” the public figure said.

Filaniotis expressed confidence that relations between the countries would normalize in the future.

“Everything will return to the good past. This bad period will be left behind, and we will soon forget about it. “But before we forget, we need to learn from it so that this doesn’t happen again,” he said.