NICOSIA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday deplored as "unfortunate" an amendment in a bill passed by U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, making the lifting of an arms embargo on the eastern Mediterranean island conditional on barring Russian ships from docking in Cypriot ports.
Anastasiades said he was saddened by the amendments which "affect the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus to a large extent".
"To date, facilities to any country were always granted for humanitarian reasons, and I don't think such conditions can be set, especially by a country, and I'm talking about America, with which we seek further strengthening of our relations. I am under the impression that the amendment was unfortunate," he said.
The condition requiring the American president to certify that"the government of the Republic of Cyprus has made and is continuing to take the steps necessary to deny Russian military vessels access to ports for refueling and servicing" was inserted as a last minute amendment when the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations approved the bipartisan legislation on Tuesday in Washington. It is now slated to go to the Senate for discussion.
The arms embargo on Cyprus was imposed after a Turkish military action against Cyprus in 1974, in reaction to a coup by the military rulers of Greece.
The U.S. bill contains another last minute amendment requiring the U.S. president to certify once every year that Cyprus is implementing reforms for the prevention of money laundering.
Before the amendments were inserted in the arms embargo bill, the Cypriot government had hailed the development as an important step in strengthening relations with the United States.
