Russian Ambassador to Cyprus: No Russian tourists for you
Stanislav Osadchiy, Russia’s Ambassador to Cyprus, has said, in an interview with a local media outlet, that the Republic of Cyprus and other European countries who have imposed sanctions on his country over its invasion of Ukraine have ‘shot themselves in the foot.’
Osadchiy tells his interviewer that Russian tourist will not show up in Cyprus in the summer and that they will go to Turkey instead.
“If you ask me personally, (economic sanctions) do not worry us. Unfortunately, I think Europeans are shooting themselves in the foot. Where will they find natural gas, oil, wheat, how will Cyprus get Russian tourists? Russian tourists will not come. Where will these tourists go? They’ll go to Turkey, you want that? They’ll spend money there. Summer is coming. You have shut down Cyprus’ airspace? You have shot youselves in the foot,” Osadchiy says, in fluent Greek, in a clip from the interview posted on twitter by Yiota Hadjicosta, a journalist with Cyprus’ Politis newspaper.
“#Russian Ambassador to Cyprus openly threatened #Cyprus in an interview with a local media outlet. Unbelievable! #Ukraine #Russia,” Hadjicosta tweeted.
Osadchiy, 71, has been Ambassador to Cyprus since 2013; before that, he was Ambassador to Austria and consul-general in Hamburg, Germany and Istanbul.
Cyprus, along with all 27 EU members, has closed its airspace to Russian planes.
