Cyprus has discussed the potential of buying Merkava tanks from Israel, Phileleftheros reports citing sources. The Cypriot Defence Ministry has not confirmed the information, however, sources say that Cyprus is indeed interested in buying new tanks and that authorities are following the relevant procedures which involve the Ministry as well as the House Defence Committee.
Israeli media outlet Haaretz reported last week that one option mentioned during the talks involved Cyprus purchasing Merkava (Hebrew for “chariot”) tanks from Israel and subsequently transferring its older Russian-made T-80 tanks to Ukraine.
However, Cypriot sources have denied any intention to carry out such a transfer. Also, President Christodoulides has said that the country would not take any action that would leave its army vulnerable.
John Ioannou, a security analyst and founder of Geopolitical Cyprus, told Haaretz that he believes that the attempts to link the Israeli-Cypriot negotiations with the Ukrainian war are rooted in “Russian disinformation on social media.” Ioannou also highlighted one of Cyprus’ considerations in purchasing Israeli weaponry, which is the potential difficulty of obtaining spare parts for Russian tanks in the coming years due to the Russian military’s operations in Ukraine and international sanctions against Moscow.
The Cypriot National Guard is currently equipped with 82 Russian-made T-80 tanks which it bought during the late 1990s and in 2010. The country is now looking to diversify its list of arms suppliers due to the freezing of its relations with Russia after the war in Ukraine and an apparent diplomatic shift to the West.
Also, the lifting of a decades-long arms embargo on Cyprus by the Biden administration in 2022 opens the possibility for a deal with Israel.
Yair Kulas, the head of Israel’s Defense Ministry’s export coordination department, disclosed in an interview with the economic daily Calcalist that Israel is engaged in negotiations with two countries, one of which is in Europe, regarding the sale of older Merkava tanks that are no longer in use by the Israeli army.
According to Haaretz, the Merkava Mark III was introduced in 1990 and ceased regular use in 2020. Equipped with a 120 mm cannon, the Mark III possesses the capability to destroy armoured targets, including other tanks.