Russia Resists Savior Role in Cyprus

LONDON - Reports that the Russian bear was about to take tiny Cyprus into its crushing embrace, exploiting a banking crisis to strengthen the Kremlin’s foothold in the Mediterranean, may have been premature.

As Michalis Sarris, the Cypriot finance minister, flew home empty-handed from a money-raising trip to Moscow on Friday, Anton Siluanov, his Russian counterpart, said Russian investors had “demonstrated no interest” in his proposals.

Mr. Sarris had offered stakes in the island’s banks and natural gas projects in return for financial aid to fund a bailout.

Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian prime minister, assured the Cypriots Moscow “has not closed the door” on possible future assistance. But, he added, “this will only come after there is a final plan of support for Cyprus from the European countries.”

The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted analysts as saying Cypriot offshore gas projects were likely to be a hard sell in light of possible opposition from Turkey.

Turkish officials, quoted by Reuters, had warned that Ankara might challenge any unilateral move to speed up offshore exploration that ignored the rights of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which only Turkey recognizes.

A Russian stake in the $80 billion worth of reserves would tighten Russia’s grip on gas supplies to the European Union.

But that was just one potential geopolitical spillover of the Cyprus financial crisis, which has brought a chill to Russian-European Union relations.

Russia was furious that it was not told in advance about a now-defunct plan to seize the equivalent of $7.5 billion from Cypriot bank deposits - many of them held by Russian nationals.

“So far the E.U. together with the Cyprus parliament have unfortunately acted like a bull in a china shop,” Mr. Medvedev said this week. “ I think all possible mistakes which could’ve been made in this situation have been made.”

There were suggestions, however, that the Kremlin might use the crisis to burnish its image as “an anchor of stability in the crisis and as a financial safe harbor,” in the words of Germany’s Der Spiegel.

Max Keiser, a Russia Today presenter, posted on Twitter:

A poll this week suggested that two-thirds of Cypriots favored their country’s exit from the euro zone and a strengthening of relations with Russia.

Noting that Russia had ambitious plans for its Mediterranean fleet, presently confined to one small naval base in Syria, Der Spiegel wrote, “The possibility that Russia might demand tighter military cooperation in exchange for financial aid cannot be ruled out.”

The Financial Times reported the concerns of Western diplomats, “some of whom wonder whether the Kremlin could use the island to challenge their security interests in the eastern Mediterranean.”

The business daily wrote on Thursday, “If Russia were to provide a large rescue package, or if Cyprus was to plunge out of the euro zone, diplomats would certainly begin to ponder the diplomatic consequences.”

As Mr. Sarris headed home on Friday, perhaps they can relax.