NICOSIA, February 2. /TASS/. Russia supports the efforts of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ Personal Envoy on Cyprus Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, Russian Ambassador to Cyprus Murat Zyazikov told a TASS correspondent after his meeting with the envoy.

The conversation was held ahead of Cuellar's talks with Cypriot community leaders Nikos Christodoulides and Ersin Tatar. According to Zyazikov, during the meeting "an extensive exchange of views on the current situation in the Cyprus settlement took place." "As a permanent member state of the UN Security Council, we welcomed the efforts of the secretary general's personal envoy to examine the prospects for negotiations between the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot sides," the ambassador said. He also expressed confidence that "Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar's rich diplomatic experience would play an important role in organizing constructive and effective interaction between all interested parties" in the Cyprus settlement, and "would help to achieve the objectives set by UN Secretary General [Antonio] Guterres."

Cuellar made her first visit to the island since her appointment. The mission of the UN secretary general's personal envoy is to assess the prospects for resuming talks on the Cyprus issue, which were interrupted after the failure of another round held in the Swiss city of Crans-Montana in 2017. Cuellar, who served as Colombia's foreign minister between 2010 and 2018, intends to do everything possible to help the parties find common ground and "achieve a positive outcome for Cyprus."