{"id":138186,"date":"2015-03-05T12:48:11","date_gmt":"2015-03-05T10:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/cyprus-port-deal-gives-russian-navy-alternative-to-tartus\/"},"modified":"2015-03-05T12:48:11","modified_gmt":"2015-03-05T10:48:11","slug":"cyprus-port-deal-gives-russian-navy-alternative-to-tartus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/cyprus-port-deal-gives-russian-navy-alternative-to-tartus\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyprus port deal gives Russian navy alternative to Tartus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Russian navy\u2019s new access to ports in Cyprus has both symbolic and practical importance for Moscow.<\/p>\n

An agreement allowing the Russian navy access to ports in Cyprus sends a message to the EU and gives Moscow an alternative to its facility at Tartus, Syria.<\/p>\n

At a time when the European Union has imposed harsh economic sanctions on Russia and is trying to isolate the Russian government, the Kremlin is clearly relishing every opportunity to draw attention to cracks in Europe\u2019s unity.\u00a0Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s recent visit to Hungary \u2014 complete with a natural gas supply deal \u2014 is\u00a0one example\u00a0of this; the Cyprus talks are another.<\/p>\n

What makes Moscow\u2019s pursuit of this political symbolism most obvious is how Russia\u2019s official media are handling the story.\u00a0The headline at\u00a0Sputnik\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 a relatively new government-sponsored media organization targeted at foreign audiences \u2014 conveys this quite directly: \u201cRussia Signs\u00a0Military Deal with EU Member State.\u201d\u00a0In other words,\u00a0Sputnik\u00a0is telling Europeans \u201cyou may think you can isolate us, but you can\u2019t even keep your own members from hosting Russian military forces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Russian officials likely want to reach audiences beyond the EU\u00a0or the West in general.\u00a0Another audience is domestic \u2014 to whom the deal says, \u201cWe are not quite as isolated as Western leaders claim.\u201d\u00a0Beyond this, given the island nation\u2019s strategic location, regularized Russian naval access to Cypriot ports sends a message across the eastern Mediterranean region of the Middle East:\u00a0\u201cWe are here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deal, which cuts interest rates on a 2.5 billion euro Russian\u00a0bailout\u00a0loa<\/a>n<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0to Cyprus and extends payments from 2016 to as late as 2021,<\/span> also makes two other important statements in the eastern Mediterranean.\u00a0The first is that the Kremlin takes care of its friends; Cyprus is a particularly special friend as an offshore banking haven and the second-ranking source of foreign investment in Russia, though as even Putin acknowledges, \u201ca large part of this is\u00a0repatriated capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200bThe second message is that Russia is able to help friends like Cyprus even at a time of great economic distress.\u00a0Russian officials may see this as the most consequential idea to communicate at a time when most news from Moscow is assessing the impacts of low energy prices and a much-reduced ruble.<\/p>\n

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has perhaps unintentionally reinforced the case that the deal is more symbolic than substantive by insisting that it was a \u201crenewed agreement\u201d rather than a new one.\u00a0Still, the agreement is not exclusively about symbolism \u2014 access to ports in Cyprus does have value for Russia\u2019s navy, even if only for what Anastasiades described as port \u201ccalls with humanitarian aims, which are supplies of provision and refueling of vessels, as well as for rescue of lives of Russian nationals and their evacuation from neighboring countries.\u201d\u00a0After all, Russia\u2019s naval replenishment facility at Syria\u2019s port of Tartus is only about 150 miles (241 kilometers)\u00a0from Limassol, a major port on the southern coast of Cyprus.\u00a0With Syria\u2019s civil war continuing with no end in sight, having an alternative to\u00a0Tartus\u00a0makes good sense (particularly since no one knows what the outcome of the war will be).\u00a0Moreover, despite much excitement early in the conflict about the \u201cstrategic\u201d role of the Tartus facility, in reality it\u00a0offers little more\u00a0than what Cyprus is willing to provide.<\/p>\n

The port access is especially important in view of Defense Minister\u00a0Sergei\u00a0Shoigu\u2019s declaration, \u201cIt has been decided to set up a navy department task force in the Mediterranean zone where naval forces will stay on a permanent basis.\u201d The Moscow Times suggested that this\u00a0\u201cpermanent\u201d presence\u00a0would allow Russia to \u201csecure shipping access to the Suez Canal and extend its influence in the Middle East.\u201d\u00a0The paper added that the force would operate from either Sevastopol or Novorossiysk in the Black Sea, because Tartus could not support it.<\/p>\n

A press officer from Russia\u2019s Black Sea Fleet describes Russia\u2019s current Mediterranean presence as a task force of 10 ships led by the destroyer Severomorsk, which has been detached from the Northern Fleet.\u00a0It also includes vessels from the Black Sea Fleet and the Pacific Fleet.\u00a0As Al-Monitor has previously reported, some of them participated in\u00a0live-fire exercises\u00a0with Cypriot and Israeli ships last fall.<\/p>\n

Anastasiades said that Putin approached the agreement \u201cdelicately\u201d and without putting Cyprus in a \u201ccomplicated position\u201d with its EU partners.\u00a0He likewise made clear that Russia will\u00a0not have a military base; some press reports had suggested this possibility.\u00a0(Indeed, some Greek patriots hope for a\u00a0permanent Russian naval base\u00a0on this island.\u00a0Before the trip, Anastasiades even suggested that Cyprus might provide Moscow\u00a0with access to an air base for humanitarian missions, though\u00a0subsequent reports\u00a0do not suggest this was in the final agreement.<\/p>\n

AL MONITOR:<\/p>\n

Author\u00a0Paul J. Saunders<\/p>\n

Posted\u00a0March 3, 2015<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Russian navy\u2019s new access to ports in Cyprus has both symbolic and practical importance for [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}