THE interior ministry is looking into the application of a political party which was filed by a group of Russians with Cyprus citizenship.

“It is not really a Russian party,” Interior ministry spokesman Michalakis Christodoulides said on Friday, “what counts is that they are Cypriot citizens. Any citizen can apply to create a party. A group of them has applied and the authorities are examining if they fulfill the necessary criteria, one of which is that they all have Cypriot citizenship. It is early days to say if it will be approved.”

Mila Levinskaya from the Cyprus Russian Business Association also said more will be known later on as the applying group does not yet have a spokesperson, but confirmed that an application has been made by “a group of which the majority are Russian speakers.”ot all agree that such a party is needed.

“I don’t think this is a very good idea,” a member of the Russian community said, adding that it would draw unnecessary attention to the community. “But I have observed that some Russians want to become members of parliament.”

Around 40,000 from Russia and the former Soviet republics now live in Cyprus, and about 75 per cent of them are mainly in Limassol. Many are believed to have Cypriot citizenship as this is easy to obtain with a financial investment.

Head of the Cyprus Russian business association Andy Nathanael lists the modern infrastructure and the port as major factors why Limassol is such a magnet.

Limassol also boasts three Russian schools with a total of 600 students, two nurseries and 20 educational centres, while several Russian-owned banks have their head offices in the town. In the Kalogirous area of the town, a Russian church is being built, while one was recently inaugurated in the southern outskirts of Nicosia.

Cyprus Mail