This is not the time for “business as usual with Russia”, Marie Harf, the Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State said, when asked to comment on the recent visit of the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades to Russia.
In her statement, Harf noted that the US have stressed to their European allies and partners the importance of unity and of pressing Russia to stop fueling the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
“That’s certainly something we feel very strongly about” she added.
Asked why the US do not accuse Turkey over the 1974 intervention in Cyprus, when they accuse Russia about Crimea, Harf added that the two should not be linked. “We obviously have been very clear about different kinds of events, and I’m not going to try and link them,” she noted.