The Russian Federation on Thursday announced that it is barring entry into its territory to Cypriot officials connected with the deportation from the island of a Russian national last October and for “unacceptable actions” against a Russian embassy staffer.
“The Russian Foreign Ministry on January 18 notified the ambassador of Cyprus in Moscow of the retaliatory measures in connection with unacceptable actions by the Cypriot authorities (in October 2023) in relation to the correspondent of Rossiyskaya Gazeta A. G. Gasyuk, accredited in Nicosia, and an employee of the Russian embassy, D. V. Doinikov,” read the press release.
“The officials of the Republic of Cyprus, directly involved in the provocation, are banned from entering the territory of our country…”
Alexander Gasyuk, referred to in the press release, was a Russian journalist living in Cyprus at the time.
Gasyuk, who worked for the state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, was detained in early October 2023 and subsequently deported from Cyprus. He was quoted as telling the TASS news agency that Cypriot police manhandled him and that he was told his residence permit was being revoked because he was allegedly a security threat.
Cypriot authorities denied having mistreated Gasyuk.
Citing diplomatic sources, state broadcaster CyBC on Thursday said the Russian ban appears to concern three officials of the interior ministry.
The same sources sought to downplay the tit-for-tat from Moscow, noting that it came more than three months after the incident in Cyprus and was to be expected.
It’s understood that Gasyuk’s family also left the island shortly after his deportation. Based on the journalist’s last dispatches while working here, he covered an Independence Day parade in Nicosia on October 1, which focused on Russian-made tanks being on display, celebrations by some Russians living in Cyprus of the annexation of territories in Ukraine and an interview with Russia’s ambassador to the island.
By Elias Hazou
Moscow on Thursday announced that it is barring entry into its territory to Cypriot officials connected with the deportation from the island of a Russian national last October and for “unacceptable actions” against a Russian embassy staffer.
“The Russian Foreign Ministry on January 18 notified the ambassador of Cyprus in Moscow of the retaliatory measures in connection with unacceptable actions by the Cypriot authorities (in October 2023) in relation to the correspondent of Rossiyskaya Gazeta A. G. Gasyuk, accredited in Nicosia, and an employee of the Russian embassy, D. V. Doinikov,” read the press release.
“The officials of the Republic of Cyprus, directly involved in the provocation, are banned from entering the territory of our country…”
Alexander Gasyuk, referred to in the press release, was a Russian journalist living in Cyprus at the time.
Gasyuk, who worked for the state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, was detained in early October 2023 and subsequently deported from Cyprus. He was quoted as telling the TASS news agency that Cypriot police manhandled him and that he was told his residence permit was being revoked because he was allegedly a security threat.
Cypriot authorities denied having mistreated Gasyuk.
Citing diplomatic sources, state broadcaster CyBC on Thursday said the Russian ban appears to concern three officials of the interior ministry.
The same sources sought to downplay the tit-for-tat from Moscow, noting that it came more than three months after the incident in Cyprus and was to be expected.
It’s understood that Gasyuk’s family also left the island shortly after his deportation. Based on the journalist’s last dispatches while working here, he covered an Independence Day parade in Nicosia on October 1, which focused on Russian-made tanks being on display, celebrations by some Russians living in Cyprus of the annexation of territories in Ukraine and an interview with Russia’s ambassador to the island.