Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Cyprus that Moscow was ready to help mediate in any talks with Turkey as tensions simmer over energy exploration in the Mediterranean Sea, Al Jazeera reports.
Decades-old tensions between Turkey and Cyprus, which is backed by Greece, have come to a head this year in disputes over commercial rights in the Eastern Mediterranean, an area thought to be rich in natural gas.
"As far as your relations with Turkey are concerned, we are ready to promote dialogue, pragmatically based on mutual interests and in search of decisions, which will be fair and based on international law," Lavrov said on Tuesday at a meeting with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades in Nicosia.
