State can manage consequences of Ukraine invasion, spokesman says after palace meeting

Legal, political and other consequences of the invasion of Ukraine on Cyprus were at the centre of a board meeting held on Friday at the presidential palace and chaired by President Nicos Anastasiades.

In a statement following the meeting, government spokesman Marios Pelekanos said attendees made a first assessment of the consequences that will arise as a result of both the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions sought against Russia by the EU and other entities.

“It was decided to set up two inter-ministerial committees to monitor the situation and make decisions in the fastest and most effective way,” he said, adding that the president instructed everyone involved to stay vigilant and up to speed with all aspects of the situation.

One of the committees will comprise the energy, transport, foreign, interior, justice ministers and the undersecretary to the president, while the second one of the energy, finance, transport and shipping ministers.

“From everything said during the extensive discussion, our country, like the rest of the EU, will suffer consequences in several parts of the economy, but it was also determined that those consequences will be manageable and within the state’s capacity,” he said.

Among others, the meeting was attended by the ministers of foreign affairs Ioannis Kasoulidis, finance Constantinos Petrides, interior Nicos Nouris, defence Charalambos Petrides, agriculture, Costas Kadis, transport Yiannis Karousos, energy Natasa Pilides, and the deputy ministers of tourism and shipping Savvas Perdios and Vassilis Dimetriades respectively. The governor of the central bank Constantinos Herodotou was also there.

According to Pelekanos, Herodotou assured that the banking sector would not suffer.

Pelekanos reminded that the first batch of humanitarian aid from Cyprus containing food, medical and survival supplies will be shipped to Ukraine on March 8 through the EU Civil Protection mechanism, and added that all stakeholders will keep up with any changes in the circumstances.

Asked if there were any changes in the government’s decision to close Cypriot airspace to Russian aircraft, the spokesman said that “appreciating the possibility of any instrumentalisation on part of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side, we retain the right to review the decision”.

As regards tourism, Pelekanos told reporters that the government is considering measures to deal with the gap created in the market.

Lastly he said that Cyprus is ready to follow EU-wide decisions on receiving Ukrainian refugees if need be, adding that the interior minister is in Brussels to discuss the specific issue with his EU counterparts.