Official website of the President of Russia

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President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Mr President,

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the Kremlin. I am pleased to have this chance to meet personally with you and to discuss the prospects for developing the relations between our two countries.

We have longstanding ties, special relations, and I would like to begin this meeting by presenting you with documents on the Soviet Union’s recognition of Cyprus, an event that took place some time ago now. I officially hand over these documents to you.

President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias (Retranslated from Russian): Mr President,

Thank you for this invitation to visit Moscow. I feel very excited to be here. I am back in Moscow and recall my student years, and it is especially exciting to be able to return and to come to the Kremlin as head of state of my country now.

Dmitry Medvedev: It makes us especially happy that you know Russia so well and began your studies here. You have many personal memories of Russia, the Soviet Union as it was then, and this is really an excellent thing for developing our personal contacts and building up the relations between our countries.

Now we will hold talks on the main areas for developing our bilateral relations. We will discuss our economic and political relations, look at the international situation and exchange views, all the more so as we have plenty to talk about.

Demetris Christofias: Thank you very much once again.

The friendship and cooperation between our peoples have deep roots that go back to the time when the Republic of Cyprus gained its independence, roots based on our cultural and spiritual traditions.

After we gained independence we built up substantial relations of mutual support and understanding. I want to say that relations between Russia and Cyprus are precisely the kind of relations that should develop between countries. Our relations could serve as an example for others.

Dmitry Medvedev: I completely agree.