Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last Friday that the embassy in Cyprus will request [Greek] Cypriot authorities to provide official information regarding incidences where Russian citizens have been refused admission into the country and detained at airports.
Russian tourist Irina Shirobokova, said on her social media account on October 28, that she had experienced “hell” upon her arrival at Larnaca airport, where she was “unreasonably detained at the border, imprisoned, blackmailed and mocked” after informing authorities of her intention to cross to the north.
Shirobokova said that she had made the same trip about a month ago with her parents and crossed to the north without a problem.
She said that after being told she could not cross to the north, she told authorities she was quite willing to stay in the Republic [South Cyprus] and rent a place to stay.
However, she was detained, intimidated by male officers, yelled at and threatened. She said the Russian embassy in [South] Cyprus has registered a growing number of complaints by Russians in the past few months over the tighter requirements for documents that have to be submitted at Greek Cypriot check points. Eventually, she was forced to sign a document agreeing to refund the cost of her deportation – an unspecified amount. She and another Russian tourist, who had been detained for four days, were deported to Moscow.
The Greek Cypriot authorities on Monday said they had launched an investigation into allegations that a Russian woman was detained and mistreated when she arrived at Larnaca airport after saying she was intending to holiday in the north.
In November 2017, a group of 29 Israeli tourists arrived at Larnaca Airport to attend a poker tournament to be held in the TRNC, but after they declared they would stay at a hotel in the TRNC, they were told they could not enter the country and had to return to their country. This followed the reintroduction of a dormant rule on migration by the Greek Cypriot authorities which relates to non-European visitors arriving at South Cyprus airports with the intention of staying in North Cyprus at hotels owned by Greek Cypriots. For the list of hotels click here
Cyprus Mail
