Dmitry Khmelnitsky
There was a scandal in a kindergarten in the Cypriot capital Nicosia. In its library, vigilant parents discovered and confiscated a book with a picture of a same-sex family — two fathers and a girl in their arms.
Cypriot Education Minister Athena Michailidou received an angry letter signed by the chairman of the «Active Citizens — United Movement of Hunters of Cyprus» party, Nicholas Prodromou. It said, «These images insult the traditional institution of the family, everything normal, and refer to perverts who scrupulously follow Western standards.»
The Russian news channel Europa-Cyprus sympathetically supported the news: «Paradoxically, the book (along with 49 others) was donated to the kindergarten by the parents’ association.» On the Facebook page of Europa-Cyprus, a discussion arose, with all participants in solidarity with the publication. One of them, Allena Khusanova Philippides expressed the general opinion this way: «So it turns out that a certain «association of parents» made a present to the children. At the same time, they knew that it was clear propaganda. I hope that all these people will be punished, including the management of the kindergarten».
When the author of this article asked whether she was sure that such propaganda is forbidden in Cyprus and why the book donors and the management of the kindergarten are being punished, no answer was received. But it was stated that they — residents of Cyprus — are against «»supposedly European values» expressed in sexual education of children, and that their children are produced in the usual way, with the help of mom and dad.
The situation itself is ordinary. There are obscurantists and ignoramuses in one number or another in every country. Including homophobes. It is not necessary for homophobia to be part of state policy and supported by legislation, as in Russia today. There are enough ordinary illiterate ordinary people. But there is a subtlety in this situation.
Created in 2018 in Cyprus, the «party of hunters», failed in 2021 to overcome the percentage barrier and get into parliament. Until June 2023, little was heard of it. But on June 21, 2023, a meeting was held between the chairman of the Hunters’ Party, Nicholas Prodromou, and the head of the Russian Cultural Center, Alina Radchenko. The parties agreed to hold a joint march «»in defense of traditional family values and children»» on July 8.
As reported by the website of Rossotrudnichestvo, «the action was held on the day of the Russian holiday «the day of family, love and fidelity.»». The participants of the action carried the flags of Cyprus, Greece, Russia, as well as flags with the tricolor emblem of the traditional family «Mom, Dad, I — a happy family», which became a symbol of uniting the citizens of Cyprus in defense against Western encroachments on the rights of the family and children. People chanted: «Hands off our children and education!».
Since the summer of 2023, the party began organizing rallies and protest marches against the introduction of sex education for children in Cypriot schools, which became mandatory after the signing of the law by Cypriot President Anastasiades in December 2022. What is interesting is that all the events of the party were organized in cooperation with the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Nicosia, Rossotrudnichestvo and the Coordination Council of Russian Compatriots in Cyprus. That is, with Russian structures that play the role of agents of Russian influence in Cyprus.
By January 2024, the friendly relations between the Party of Cypriot Hunters and Russian state structures had strengthened to such an extent that the head of the Coordination Council of Russian Compatriots Dmitry Apraksin took the first place in the list of the party’s candidates running for the European Parliament from Cyprus. Here we are no longer talking about the sex education of Cypriot children, but about big politics. Moreover, it is impossible to logically explain the reasons why the Hunters’ Party included an unknown Russian migrant in its list of candidates, unless, of course, one excludes banal bribery.
Recruitment of the leadership of marginal (or not so marginal) parties in different countries, right or left, it does not matter — this is the usual method of work for the Moscow special services. The goal is to destabilize the situation, imitate mass public protests and introduce their people into the political structures of the West. And there are chances for success in this case. Cyprus is a small state. A few thousand votes of Russian voters with Cypriot citizenship obedient to the embassy may well turn a Moscow agent of influence into a parliamentarian of the European Union.
As for the scandal with the kindergarten book, traces of Russian involvement can be found in the text of the published letter of the chairman of the Hunters’ Party to the Minister of Education, where it speaks of «Western standards» that insult the traditional institution of the family and please perverts.
Cyprus is a member of the European Union, i.e. by definition a Western state. It is difficult to imagine a Cypriot politician opposing Cyprus to the West. There is simply no East to associate Cyprus with. Spitting at «Western standards» is rather the usual vocabulary of specialists from the Russian embassy staff.
Elections to the European Parliament will be held in June 2024. So we should expect in the very near future another manifestation of the growing friendship between Russian diplomats and Cypriot hunters.
Original Article: CDN