Former US Ambassador to Anastasiades: "A Fraud and a Blowhard"

In the post on Substack, former American ambassador John Koenig does not mince his words about Anastasiades.

The diatribe is not about Anastasiades per se. Koenig, who served in Cyprus from 2012 to 2015, starts out by asking members of the US Foreign Service how they can tolerate serving in the ‘Trump Regime’ as he calls it – posing the question of personal integrity.

He then segues to his own stint as ambassador in Cyprus, explaining how he left the position to preserve his “dignity”.

Koenig attaches a photograph from an event taking place in 2015 in Nicosia, depicting himself and Anastasiades having a seemingly friendly chat and smiling.

“My ambassadorship in Cyprus ended in a mess, and the picture at the top of this article, taken in June 2015, is just a lie. It shows me and Cypriot President Anastasiades getting all jovial on the stage at the Embassy’s Independence Day reception and party.

“The truth is, we really hated each other.”

Koenig next explains why he and the then Cypriot president did not get along.

“It all started a few months earlier, in February 2015. Until then I had fairly productive but sometimes contentious relations with Anastasiades, whom I regarded as a fraud and a blowhard.

“I had worked with him, the UN, Turkey, the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots on the Joint Statement of February 2014 that launched the last round of Cyprus settlement talks. I had helped to arrange US Vice President Biden’s visit to Cyprus, during which Biden spent a lot of time with Anastasiades.

“Anastasiades did not like me; he would sometimes glare at me theatrically when I was in his office. But I could do my job. At least I thought I could.”

In February 2015, Koenig goes on, Anastasiades announced plans to visit Moscow and meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, “breaking the EU embargo on high-level meetings with Putin put in place after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in spring 2014.”

Koenig says he lobbied Anastasiades hard not to break the embargo.

“He said he had to go to the Kremlin, undoubtedly with an eye on the large amounts of Russian money that flowed into the Cypriot financial sector. Then, just as Anastasiades was wrapping up his visit to Moscow, Putin’s most influential Russian critic and political opponent, Boris Nemtsov, was assassinated just outside the Kremlin’s walls.

“Back in Nicosia, I had the temerity – and stupidity – to try shaming Anastasiades and his government on Twitter, which was all the rage back then. Something along the lines of ‘choose your friends wisely.’”

Next, the ex-US ambassador recounts, “Shit hit the fan. Local Russian-linked trolls jumped on my Tweet, and then it went viral worldwide. Anastasiades went on Cypriot TV in a special broadcast solely to denounce me. My usefulness in Cyprus was over.”

Koenig says he was “too proud” to let Anastasiades drive him from his post early. He writes that then US Secretary of State John Kerry and others defended him when Anastasiades demanded his recall.

“But I wanted to leave Cyprus as soon as my dignity would permit. I got out in early July of 2015. I had an onward assignment in DC, but I was done. By the end of the month, I had left the Foreign Service.”

By leaving the Cyprus post, he kept his personal integrity intact.

“By the way, I was right about Anastasiades,” he signs off.

Source: Cyprus Mail