US Ambassador to Cyprus pledges military protection as island deepens Western ties

The United States will protect Cyprus in the future, according to John Breslow, the country's new ambassador. In an interview with the Cyprus News Agency on October 4, Breslow articulated this commitment while outlining a strategic expansion of the American military footprint on the island. He detailed plans to upgrade the Andreas Papandreou Air Base in Paphos to accommodate large US military transport aircraft. The ambassador also confirmed that US warships will visit Cypriot ports with greater frequency and that joint military activities will expand.

The statement signals a major departure from Cyprus's historical foreign policy. For decades, the island nation maintained a nonaligned stance, balancing relations between Moscow and Washington without joining NATO. This approach allowed Nicosia to keep close ties with the Soviet Union and later Russia while maintaining Western connections. The new direction represents a clear move toward the West, driven by the geopolitical realities that emerged after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The shift reverses long-standing patterns of cooperation with Moscow. Following the US imposition of an arms embargo in 1987, the Cypriot National Guard became heavily dependent on Russian-made weapons systems. This reliance strengthened the Kremlin's position as a primary military partner. In 2015, President Nicos Anastasiades signed agreements with Vladimir Putin, including a naval cooperation memorandum and more favorable repayment terms for a 2.5 billion euro loan. The last major diplomatic step in that direction occurred in October 2021, when current President Nikos Christodoulides, then Foreign Minister, signed a Strategic Cooperation Framework with Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.

The invasion of Ukraine accelerated the realignment. Konstantinos Adamides, an associate professor of international relations at the University of Nicosia, noted that the conflict forced Cyprus to side openly with the West despite economic costs. Nicosia joined EU sanctions against Russia, breaking from its traditional balance. This move paved the way for closer security cooperation with the United States. Washington began viewing the island as a reliable partner in the Eastern Mediterranean, leading to the inauguration of the CYCLOPS training facility in Larnaca in April 2022.

Institutional changes have solidified the new partnership. The US fully suspended its 1987 arms embargo in September 2022, allowing the export of lethal military equipment to Cyprus. This suspension has been renewed until September 30, 2027. In January 2025, former President Joe Biden authorized Cyprus to participate in US defense procurement programs, including Foreign Military Sales and Excess Defense Articles. These mechanisms provide Nicosia with additional avenues to acquire American equipment, further reducing reliance on Russian systems like T-80 tanks and Tor-M1 air defense units.

The strategic reorientation continues to influence domestic policy debates. In March, the crash landing of an Iranian drone on a British military base at Akrotiri revived discussions about NATO membership. Christodoulides stated that Cyprus is preparing for potential membership at the military and administrative level. He added that the country would apply to join the alliance immediately if political conditions allowed, though the well-known position of Turkey currently prevents such an application.