NICOSIA, April 17. /TASS/. About forty thousand Russian nationals visited the northern part of Cyprus in 2023, Deputy Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Fikri Ataoglu said in the local parliament.

"The largest number of foreign guests, apart from Turkey, comes from Russia," the official said. "Forty thousand guests from Russia visited the northern part of Cyprus last year, through travel agencies," he noted.

The government of the Republic of Cyprus has closed their airspace to Russian airplanes, in line with anti-Russian sanctions from the European Union. As a result, many Russians took to the northern part of the island for their vacations. More than 50,000 Russians are currently living in Northern Cyprus.