Cypriot President Denies Reports on Sending Arms to Ukraine
President of Cyprus: the country will not send weapons to Ukraine
Cyprus does not intend to send Soviet or Russian-made weapons to Ukraine, President Nicos Anastasiades has said.
Earlier, the US media quoted Cypriot government spokesman Marios Pelecanos as saying that Cyprus would send Soviet and Russian-made weapons to Ukraine if it received a replacement. The island state possesses, in particular, T-80 tanks, BMP-3, Buk and TOR air defense systems, the publications noted.
“I want to say one thing. Cyprus is half occupied, it needs protective armor and we cannot survive without it. So I want to reassure you: we are not going to send weapons to Ukraine. If there is a country that wants to replace our weapons with modern and equally powerful ones, thereby creating a decisive deterrent, that is a different matter. We are not raising the issue of sending weapons to Ukraine,” Anastasiades was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.