MOSCOW REACHES DEFENSE AGREEMENT WITH CYPRUS.

Publication: Monitor Volume: 2 Issue: 62

The defense minister of Cyprus described several days of talks in Moscow as very successful March 26 and suggested that they would open the door to a broader partnership between the two countries. On March 21 Costas Eliades signed an agreement on military-technical cooperation with his Russian counterpart, Pavel Grachev. Eliades said that Moscow had also offered its support in winning "a just settlement of the Cyprus problem." (Reuter, March 21; Itar-Tass, March 26) Turkey occupied the northern part of the Mediterranean island in 1974, and the Greek-backed Cypriot government is currently engaged in upgrading its defense capabilities. The tone of the talks in Moscow reflected Russia’s improving relations with Greece, and suggested that Cyprus could become a point of friction between Russian and Turkey. In deference to Moscow, Greece has expressed reservations about NATO enlargement (See Monitor, March 19), a position that Eliades likewise adopted. Grachev, meanwhile, stated during the talks that Russia seeks to become one of the guarantors of stability in that part of the world. (Krasnaya zvezda, March 23)

Hague Conference Opens.