Defending the president’s diplomatic blunder about Iran’s alleged message, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos criticised the opposition parties for focusing on this while completely ignoring the Russian Federation’s crude attempt to involve Cyprus in the Israel-Iran conflict. Opposition parties failed to say anything about claims by the Russian delegation at the UN, that the British bases in Cyprus had been used to defend Israel against Iran’s missile attack, complained Kombos.

He told a radio show that on Friday at the Security Council, “Russia took a position in a way that put the Republic of Cyprus in danger with reference to activity which took place at the bases.” Kombos lamented the fact that “we saw no position being taken, heard no comments especially on the matter of the bases,” considering this was “something extremely important and dangerous.” In fairness, the matter had been dealt with by the UK government, whose permanent representative at the UN dismissed Russia’s allegations as “nonsense” and “deeply irresponsible”.

Being Foreign Minister Kombos should have known that allegations by a representative of a foreign state are answered by a government and not by opposition parties. In the case of the misinformation spread by Russia about the use of the British bases, only the British government could have responded; also the Cyprus government. Opposition parties, however, do not have a clue what is going on at the bases. The pro-government parties like Diko, Edek and Dipa, who would have been briefed by Kombos, also failed to respond to Russia’s crude misinformation aimed at causing harm to Cyprus.

The problem is that for too long, these parties and successive governments have been repeating the myth about Russia’s “unwavering principled position on the Cyprus problem”, some even demanding that military facilities were granted to Moscow. What credibility would they have if they now publicly accused Russia of calculated misinformation, aimed at harming the Republic, when for decades they were waxing lyrical about the Republic’s ‘close friendly ties’ with Russia. Even our president, when he was foreign minister repeated this complete and utter nonsense.

Nobody will say a critical word against Russia, even now that is clear that its foreign policy is based on misinformation and expediency rather than anything resembling a principle. If the unprincipled US or UK governments had said anything implying that Cyprus had been helping in the defence of Israel, all these parties would be publicly lambasting them and accusing them of wanting to cause harm to the Republic. Russia, in contrast, even after its merciless, three-and-a-half years’ aggression against Ukraine, remains untouchable for our political system and most media.

Kombos and the president also subscribe to this approach, which is the reason they left it to the UK government to public dismiss Moscow’s misinformation.