By IRNA-Itar-Tass
Nicosia : Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to hold talks Monday with Cypriot President Tassos Papandopoulos and Parliament Speaker Dimitris Christofias “to coordinate the two sides’ stance on key problems ranging from Kosovo to Iraq and the Middle East,” officials at the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The program of Lavrov’s visit to Cyprus envisions meetings with the president of Cyprus-Russia Friendship Society, Harris Trassou, and Eastern Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostom II, as well as a trip to the buffer zone separating the Greek and Turkish parts of the island and controlled by UN troops.
A UN Security Council resolution on peace settlement in Cyprus will not contain any deadlines for full resolution of the conflict, Lavrov said Sunday after talks with Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis. “A report by the UN Secretary General is not a UN decision, and the decision will have the form of a resolution drafted in New York and containing no ultimatum deadlines,” Lavrov said.
“There are some arrangements supported by the UN, and all the sides should help implement them instead of putting up obstacles to peace settlement.
“To achieve success, it’s important not to search for who is guilty but, rather, stimulate the sides towards a search for compromise,” he said.