Andros Kyprianou is a Cypriot politician. He was the General Secretary of the Progressive Party of Working People from 2009 to 2021 and currently operated as a Member of the House of Representatives since 2001.
Kyprianou closely collaborated with Russian politicians and businessmen and in 2016 he was listed as one of the pivotal figures in pushing the Progressive Party of Working People motion calling for the removal of sanctions on Russia. The text of the motion was reportedly designed by Russia’s International Agency for Current Policy, conducting money from Russia for European politicians.
Since Russia established its brutal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s overseas attack has reached a fever pitch. Yet Russia still depends on the occasional friendly voice in Europe.
In April 2016 Kyprianou submitted a motion to recognise the illegal Russian annexation of Crimea as well as demand that the resultant sanctions on Russia be lifted. This was done in cooperation with a request from the International Agency for Current Policy, an institution run by the Russian Duma that sought to encourage the legitimisation of the Russian annexation of Crimea via what has been alleged to be bribery. The International Agency for Current Policy was on the verge of its first significant European success: A local council in Veneto, Italy, was designing a motion recognizing the results of rigged Russian referendums in Crimea and reaching for the end of EU sanctions against Russia.
Sargis Mirzakhanian supervised the International Agency for Current Policy. His group contributed cash to European politicians to present pro-Russian motions in their local legislatures and delivered far-right activists to publish pro-Kremlin articles in European media outlets. The network organised trips to occupied Crimea for European politicians and businessmen, with travel and accommodation funded by Russian state-funded organizations and honoraria offered to some individuals.
In October 2016 Kyprianou journeyed to Crimea, reportedly at the direction of Cypriot-Russian businessman Dmitry Kozlov, where he met with two leading figures boosting investment in the peninsula.
