“The Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Ms. Olgin, travelled to the island (Cyprus), spoke with the two sides, only to find that the parties are far from the compromise solution that might be found,” Security Council President for the month of July and Permanent Representative of Russia, Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia, said during a press briefing at the international body’s headquarters in New York.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, the Russian ambassador, responding to a question from the Agency, noted that “it is unfortunate, but the last opportunity we had was in 2017 in Crans-Montana, which unfortunately was lost and since then there has been no visible, tangible progress in the Cyprus negotiations.”

Moreover, he added, we see the hardening of the positions of some of the plans of both sides. “Now there is the issue of extending the mandate of Ms. Olgin, but that is absolutely the prerogative of the Secretary General, because she is his Personal Envoy. She is not the Envoy of the Security Council, nor of the Special Representative for Cyprus. We shall see. In fact, it is up to him (Secretary General) to make the decision,” the Russian diplomat said.

As for the regular briefing of Colin Stewart by UNFICYP, he said, “it will be on developments on the ground, on the issues he is facing.”

“I don’t expect anything special from this briefing,” he noted.

Also earlier in London, Ms. Olgin held a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar in London, which lasted for an hour with no statements.