With the arrival of a new ambassador in Cyprus, FSB general Murat Zyazikov, the Russian embassy has turned into the FSB office. Cypriots should not expect anything good from such a transformation, given the fact that the staff of such an office is 44 spy diplomats for more than 130 thousand of their compatriots living on the island. In such circumstances, “surprises” were to be expected from the office of the Chekists in Cyprus, which were not long in coming.
The Russians, having analyzed the socio-economic situation in the Cypriot society, decided to play the “anti-European card” on the island. Nothing new, they just replaced the “anti-vax” project they had previously implemented with the “family values” one.
On July 8, 2023, in Nicosia, the Russians held a march and a rally “in defense of traditional family values” with the participation of the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots of Cyprus (CCRC), with the support of the Active Citizens — United Hunters Movements.
For reference: CCRC was created in 2007 by an employee of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (before the collapse of the USSR — the First Main Directorate (foreign intelligence) of the USSR KGB), Yuri Dmitrievich Pyanykh. Previously he was a diplomat in Cyprus, a member of the World Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots Living Abroad — VKSRS, President of the Association of Russian Businessmen in Cyprus, an expert of the Russian-Cypriot Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, a member of the Board of Directors of ITERA Oil and Gas Company.
Initially, CCRC office was located on the territory of the Russian embassy in Nicosia. Meetings of this organization were also held there. A few years ago, CCRC moved to the Vestnik Kipra editorial office. The Editor-in-Chief of this newspaper, Natalia Kardash, who is a member of both CCRC and the World Association of Russian Press (WARP) (Russian foreign intelligence cover structure).
The activities of CCRC are managed and financed by Moscow. Since February last year, CCRC has acted as the official organizer of many propaganda actions in support of Russia and the war in Ukraine.
CCRC also organized the rally on July 8 in Nicosia. It is the psyop of the Russian special services, aimed at undermining the internal stability of the Republic of Cyprus.
For reference: such operations are a traditional method of work of agents of the Russian special services in Western countries. They cooperate with marginal political parties and radical right and/or left — wing movements with populist programs, finance them, provide organizational and logistical support. They use these parties to promote the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation in order to destabilize the political situation in their countries. Furthermore, they hold joint protests for any reason, accuse the governments of host countries of various violations, publish articles with the Kremlin’s propaganda narratives, etc. The Lubyanka fellows’ methods.
There were calls for “protection from Western attack on the rights of the family and children” at the rally.
“Protection of traditional family values” is one of Putin’s main false theses, with its help he tries to justify his crimes and Russia’s crimes. The true traditional values of Russia are lies, theft, war, lawlessness, hypocrisy, moral turpitude, rudeness, mud, barbarism, lack of rights. Anyone who doubts this is advised to go to Russia, live there for several months and make sure that there are no traditional values in this country. If any society or family adheres to traditional values, no one will force them to abandon them. They don’t need to be protected. They either exist or they don’t. There are none in Russia, but for propaganda purposes they shout about it from the rooftops. Moreover, this is done by people who have nothing to do with traditional values, for example, the Chairman of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, a well-known homosexual and pedophile. There are a huge number of homosexuals in the Russian parliament, in the government, in the army, in the media.
It is they who say about the need to “protect traditional values from Western encroachment” publicly. The “deep Russian people” — the poorest and most uneducated strata of the Russian population – like it. They are the majority in the country and the Putin’s regime relies on them.
The same narrative is used by the Kremlin in an export version to find allies in the West.
Joint efforts with CCRC to organize the rally means that the Active Citizens are already under the influence of the Russian special services in Cyprus and soon we will see an increase in their activity in the interests of Russia.
Russian agents will destabilize the situation with the help of Active Citizens.
The same thing took place last year, but then there were anti-vaxxers instead of Active Citizens. It is said that the head of the anti-vaccination movement in Cyprus, Angelos Konstantinidis, was invited several times to the Russian embassy, where he was made offers that he could not refuse. According to sources familiar with the details of Konstantinidis’ negotiations with Russian “civilian diplomats”, he was allegedly offered money for speaking publicly in support of Russia and organizing pro-Russian rallies with the participation of many local residents.
Whether Angelos Konstantinidis was able to refuse Russian money or not is not known for certain.
But, on April 17 last year, he organized a mass rally in support of Russia near the Russian embassy. For this, according to a source who wished to remain anonymous, he allegedly received €40,000. It is not possible to confirm or deny this information.
On his Facebook page, Konstantinidis announced the rally in advance and called on his supporters to join him. The announcement contains the name of the co-organizer of the action from the Russian side — Nemsida Krupenidou, a member of CCRC, a representative of the Pontic Greek community, a propagandist of the “Russkiy mir”, a hater of the West and European liberal values, a fan of the war criminal Putin.
Now history is repeating itself, but instead of the anti-vaxxers who disappeared from the socio-political life of Cyprus, Russian agents began to use Active Citizens, who are gaining popularity on the topic of counteracting sex education in schools.
The vast majority of Active Citizens are former members of the Communist Party of Cyprus — AKEL, who left its ranks, according to them, due to the lack of the party’s tough policy. Many of them studied in the USSR and Russia, which suggests the existence of links with the Russian state security. Many are married to Russian women, which also contributes to having connections with the Russian special services (let alone the Successful Business Ladies Club by N. Kardash).
At the rally on July 8, CCRC was presented by Vladimir Gorin, an agent of the Russian special services. The article “Europe’s Environment as a Comfortable Habitat for a Russian Spy” describes it in detail.
It is written on the web page of the Russian Center for Science and Culture (the Russian House), a division of the EU-sanctioned Rossotrudnichestvo, that on that day, “Orthodox united protesters opposed mandatory comprehensive sexual education, from preschool institutions to senior classes in private and public schools. The country’s parliament and the president approved this document, following the recommendations of the EU. The law does not take into account the religious or any other beliefs and opinions of parents.
“Let’s finally, as a people, wake up from our slumber and understand that the country is heading straight into the abyss, losing its sovereignty. Sharing in general the values of the West, we should not blindly give the soul of our country for imaginary support. We must fight and understand what is good and what is not in accordance with our religion and history,” Vladimir Gorin, Cyprus Russian Citizens Youth Club representative (a division of the Russian House), said from the stage.
It is much better to say that Rossotrudnichestvo is an independent special service under the control of the FSB. The head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Yevgeny Primakov, has a biography typical for a special services officer.
Then even more interesting:
“Russia is the first in the world that, as a state, is fighting for the preservation of traditional values based on the dominant religion in the country — the Orthodox. Russia has defended the right of the family in law, it is the only country that fights against SATANISM, for the opportunity to have these rights for all countries around the world,” Vladimir Gorin continued.
The narrative about the spread of Satanism in the West has a special place in Russian propaganda. War criminal Putin has publicly accused the West of Satanism many times. The Russian Orthodox Church, created by Stalin as a division of state security, is actively sowing this lie in adherents’ minds. The Kremlin is losing the ideological struggle with the West. It has nothing to oppose to freedom, the rule of law, human rights. Therefore, in order to justify its actions and the very existence of the Russian state, it massively creates myths, produces lies and spreads disinformation.
“We do not want and will not allow the destruction of innocent children’s souls for the sake of an unacceptable, alien moral education far from Cypriot one, which is supposedly hiding behind the protection of children from sexual harassment,” Cypriot public figure, the International Russophile Movement’s representative Mikis Filaniotis said.
At the same time, the speakers did not remember that Russia in the world rankings takes:
- The 1st place in the world in terms of absolute population decline;
- The 1st place in Europe in the number of suicides among children and adolescents;
- The 1st place in the world in the number of divorces;
- The 1st place in the world in terms of the number of children abandoned by their parents (family values in Russian);
- The 1st place in the world in cardiovascular mortality;
- The 1st place in the world in cancer patients per capita (2.5 million);
- The 1st place in the world for patients with mental illness (about 15 % of such patients need psychiatric care in the world, in Russia their number reaches 25 %);
- The 1st place in the world in terms of human trafficking (more than 500 thousand);
- The 1st place in the world in terms of the number of abortions (about 300 abortions an hour). In Russia, this indicator is eight times higher than in the United States;
- The 1st place in the world in terms of heroin consumption (about 21 % of all heroin produced in the world and 5 % of all opium-containing drugs);
- The 1st place in the world for smoking by children.
Where are the traditional values here? Where is the protection of children and families that Vladimir Gorin spoke about?
Maybe he and the Russophile Filaniotis should first manage affairs in their beloved Russia, and then teach the Cypriots who have no problem with traditional values?
On July 27, CCRC, together with Active Citizens, are planning to hold an even larger procession from Eleftherias Square to the Cyprus Parliament building with the same slogans and criticism of the government. The announcements of this event contain visual agitation and slogans that were prepared at the Russian embassy. Russian “diplomats in plain clothes” haven’t invented anything new. They copied an old Soviet propaganda poster and used it for an announcement calling for people to join it. As a result, this showed lamentably deficient, inherent in everything connected with the Russian state.