Soviet Union 1991

Third update

Clerides discovered to his dismay that the entire Cyprus political hierarchy held pessimistic views about the civil war. They believe that it is impossible for Greece to defeat the northern regime supported by Turkey, and agreeing to Turkey's peace negotiation will undoubtedly make things worse. When the United States is an unreliable ally, Cyprus urgently needs new allies.

Although some people are worried about whether the Soviet Union will do the same thing as the United States, the vast majority of senior officials with pro-Soviet sentiments still believe that Yanayev will not trick Cyprus on this issue. What's more, losing Cyprus, which was close to the Soviet Union, was equivalent to cutting off a considerable share of the Soviet Union's arms income. The Soviet Union also hoped to open up the international market for missile sales through Cyprus.

In the conference room, except for Clerides who did not express an opinion, everyone else maintained the default statement, believing that Cyprus should cooperate with the Soviet Union instead of rejecting the last straw at the moment of crisis. As for the issue of the garrison in Cyprus? They said that Britain already had an air base in Cyprus, so what if another Soviet one was added.

Clerides nodded, quite satisfied with the result, "Since everyone thinks we should accept the Soviet Union's conditions, the Cyprus government agrees to the Soviet Union's establishment of a military base on our soil."

"We would like to know the opinion of President Clerides, whether he agrees or rejects?" someone asked a key question. However, Clerides' answer left him speechless.

Clerides said in a deep voice, "Are my opinions important? Not important. It should be said that none of our opinions are important. What is important is the opinions of Britain, Greece and Turkey. Since you have decided on this plan, then Cyprus The future is in your hands.”

Clerides' words caused the conference room to fall into silence. Everyone understood what Clerides meant. On certain issues that affect the decisive political situation, they are just puppets of big power politics. The right to speak.

However, things were far from as simple as Clerides thought. Just after the meeting, Clerides received a call from Athens. President Stephanopoulos called Clerides personally. Of course, the call The content surprised Clerides even more.

President Stephanopoulos said, "Greece is preparing to conduct warship transactions with the Soviet Union without the eyes and ears of NATO, so it needs Cyprus as a cover. At that time, representatives of the Soviet Union will conduct transactions with Clerides. Later, they will sell them with the The situation is sold to the Greek government. Of course, these ships will be deployed in Cyprus to deal with threats from Turkey.”

Clerides was completely stunned when he heard this. How many moves did the visiting Soviet envoy play behind his back? Even the President of Greece was brought into this game.

"Greece is also helpless now. The eight destroyers originally sold to us have turned into nothing, and now only one old Perry-class has fallen into our hands, so now we are buying the Cheetah and Thug corvettes from the Soviet Union. To barely maintain the balance of the situation, you must know that the United States has restarted the Perry-class project with Turkey, and the remaining seven Perry-class ships will be delivered to the Turkish Navy in accordance with the previous contract.”

Primakov's previous speculation about himself became a reality, which made it difficult for Clerides to accept this reality. This is far worse than imagined.

Clerides said hesitantly, "Okay, I will be responsible for conducting transactions with Soviet representatives, but I want to know whether the Soviet Union is really reliable?"

Stephanopoulos asked rhetorically, "We have placed all our bets on the Soviet Union. Is there any other way besides trusting them?"

After that there was only a long silence between the two sides, and the sound of heavy breathing.

Before hanging up, Stephanopoulos said to Clerides, "Choose to believe them, President Clerides, because now we have no way out."

There is no way out. This sentence has been echoing in Clerides' mind, lingering.

It was already the afternoon of the second day when Clerides summoned Primakov again. After staying in this small country where the smell of war was getting stronger, Primakov was obviously impatient until the second day. Know how long Clerides wants to discuss. Just when Primakov wanted to leave the hotel and go directly to the presidential palace, he was summoned again by Clerides.

This time Clerides will give Primakov a definite answer explaining Cyprus' attitude.

After passing through the long corridor with mottled light and shadow, Primakov saw Clerides at the end of the corridor. He looked around and found that there was no guard in this exquisitely designed courtyard, as if Clerides was Gist pushed away the others and wanted to talk to Primakov face to face.

"Sit down, Comrade Primakov." Clerides asked Primakov to sit down and prepared a cup of coffee for him.

Primakov sat in front of Clerides, admiring the flowery scenery, and said with a smile, "Such an exquisitely designed courtyard seems to be only suitable for chatting, not very suitable for discussing conspiracies."

"The most important thing is that the person is here, right?" Clerides asked, "It is a person's state of mind that determines the surrounding environment."

Primakov already knew about the arms deal between Yanayev and President Stephanopoulos, so he smiled and replied, "Yes, at least I smell it on President Clerides." It's full of clouds. Greece seems to hope to deploy no more than 1,500 tons of new naval forces in Cyprus as soon as possible. There is still a considerable gap between the frigates and the Perry-class ships, which can only cost three to four thousand, but this does not mean that we are weaker than the American destroyers. These frigates have the ability to launch gem and club missiles. Once compared with the Perry class. -class destroyers will launch anti-ship missiles as soon as possible to preemptively destroy the Turkish Navy.”

Clerides shook his head, "But we just purchased the bastion system, and we can no longer purchase Soviet frigates."

"Who said you need to buy frigates?" Primakov explained, "What I mean is that Greece will deploy all these frigates to the waters of Cyprus, so that Cyprus does not need to worry about its own coastline, and allows others to come Why not pay for your military expenditures? And you also have the bastion anti-ship system. With the cooperation of these two insurances, it is more than enough to deal with the invasion of the Turkish navy. "

After hearing Primakov's affirmative answer, Clerides breathed a sigh of relief, and the nervousness in his heart was temporarily relieved. Even the bad mood caused by the repeated defeats of the Cypriot troops in Morfu these days Everything is a little better.

"We should discuss our problems next, right? President Clerides. Where is the airport we agreed on?" Primakov asked directly.

"Cyprus has already agreed internally, but if you really want to build a Soviet air base, it is useless to rely on Cyprus alone." Clerides answered honestly, "When Cyprus signed an agreement to become independent, there were three countries, Turkey, Greece and the UK. Even if Greece agrees, what about Turkey and the UK?”

Primakov said disdainfully, "Does the Soviet Union need to consider Turkey's opinions when establishing an overseas military base? It's a joke. Even if the Soviet Union annexes Turkey, it does not need their consent. This is our confidence."

Primakov's confident reply shocked Clerides. Then Primakov said slyly, "As for the British, they will agree."

"One last unkind favor."

Clerides said seriously, "We hope that the Soviet Union can send troops to participate in the Cyprus Civil War. Cyprus currently lacks everything except for people." To be continued.