Russian businessman reports showings of Russophobia in Cyprus

Showings of Russophobia that should rebuffed in a most resolute way have been registered in Cyprus, Yuri Pyanykh, the president of the Association of Russian Businessman Operating in Cyprus said Thursday. Pyanykh took the floor at a meeting between the ruling hierarch of the Cyprian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Chrysostom II, and the senior executives of Russian companies domiciled in this country. The group of Russian executives who attended the meeting represented the Russian Commercial Bank, Promsvyazbank, UNEXIM, LUKOIL, Itera, Otkrytiye /Discovery/ financial company, and some other corporations. In the wake of an agreement the Cypriot government signed with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, Cyprus sustained huge losses as a country that had been building the economic model of an international financial center. Companies with Russian capitals account for a big enough share of the Cypriot economy. In the course of the EU-superimposed fighting for financial flows “an attempt was made to deal a blow not only to Cyprus but, on top of that, to the Cypriot-Russian relations,” Pyanykh said. He indicated that posters offering discounts for everyone except the Russians have been already noticed in some hotels in Paphos, and some other deplorable showings on the part of ultra-nationalists have been registered, too. “I’m appealing to our organizations, to the Cypriot authorities and to the Church in this connection to prevent the propagation of Russophobia in these critical circumstances and to nip such showings in the bud,” Pyanykh said. He recalled that the history of Cypriot-Russian relationship goes back more than 900 years “and it can’t be broken down in just a few days,” he said. Pyanykh also said that preparations are underway in the city of Limassol for building a Russian church in the name of St Nicholas there. “We received a blessing for this from the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill I and from Archbishop Chrysostom II,” he said. The ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the new church was held last summer and coordination of all the technical documents is drawing to an end,” Pyanykh said. “We had plans to launch the construction works and the implementation of this project in these difficult times must show everyone there’s nothing that could possibly ruin the relations between our peoples.” He said along with it that a part of the monies raised for the construction project - in the amount of around 500,000 euro - has been deposited at the Bank of Cyprus and it has been affected by the restrictive measures imposed by the Cypriot authorities. Hence it cannot be used now. Pyanykh handed a letter to Chrysostom II where the foundation monitoring the project asks the authorities to relieve the donations of thousands of individuals, Russians and Cypriots likewise, as well as corporate donations of the current legislative restrictions.