Biden meets leaders on Cyprus unity, Russia sanctions

US Vice President Joe Bidens met Cyprus leaders today to spur talks on ending their island's 40-year division and seek support for threatened sanctions against Russia.
After talks with President Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriot leader, and Turkish Cypriot counterpart Dervis Eroglu, Biden cautioned against overstating the role of the United States in reunification efforts.
"For as bad and as good as we are, we do not have the capacity to be able to settle the problems you have," he told a group of civil society activists in the UN-patrolled buffer zone.
Biden first held talks with Anastasiades, who has overseen an improvement in Washington-Nicosia ties since he took office last year after decades of Greek Cypriot distrust of the United States, a close ally of Turkey.

Anastasiades said Biden's visit proved the "significant improvement in the partnership between Cyprus and the United States, a partnership which we can now call strategic".
He appealed for US support in tapping the island's offshore gas reserves, whose exploitation for export to Europe has been hampered by the division and a festering dispute with Turkey.

US interest in the reserves reaching European markets has been increased by the Ukraine crisis, which has highlighted European dependency on Russian energy supplies.
"Cyprus is poised to become a key player in the Eastern Mediterranean, transforming the Eastern Mediterranean into a new global hub for natural gas and markets," Biden said.

Assessing the meeting, government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said Washington had "recognised the role that the Republic of Cyprus can play as an alternative energy corridor, not only for the region but Europe in general".