The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia announced the ban on entry into the country of citizens – officials of the Republic of Cyprus, connected with the suspension of accreditation and the expulsion of the correspondent of the newspaper of the Russian government from Cyprus last fall.
An announcement from the Ministry's press service states that the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus in Moscow, Kypros Giorgallis, was informed of the retaliatory measures due to the "unacceptable", as stated, actions of the Cypriot authorities in October 2023 against Alexander Gasiuk, correspondent of "Rossiskaya" Gazette" accredited in Nicosia, and of D. Doinikov, an official of the Russian embassy" in Cyprus, is mentioned in the short announcement of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
"Officials of the Republic of Cyprus who are directly involved in the provocation have been denied entry to the territory of our country, in accordance with Federal Law no. 114-FZ of August 15, 1996 on the procedure for leaving the Russian Federation and entering the Russian Federation," the Russian statement concluded.
According to information from the KYPE, we are talking about three officials of the Ministry of the Interior of Cyprus, as described by a diplomatic source, without, however, releasing their names.
In fact, according to the assessment of the same source, the current reaction of the Russian side after three and a half months, compared to similar incidents with other EU member countries, expresses Moscow's will to defuse with a predictable, appropriate response and not to escalate this crisis.
On October 6 of last year, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a protest speech, denouncing in high tones "the unacceptable and provocative actions of the authorities" of Cyprus, arguing that "under the pretext of removing the Russian journalist's residence permit on the established charge of " threat to national security", the Cypriot secret services attempted to arrest him using brute force for his subsequent deportation.