Lavrov: Russia ready to help ease Turkey-Greece tension

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister said Tuesday that Moscow is ready to help ease rising tensions over Turkey's search for energy reserves in the eastern Mediterranean.

Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is monitoring the situation in the region and would help start a “genuine dialogue” with all parties that would generate “mutually acceptable solutions.”

Lavrov was speaking after a meeting with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades during an official visit to the island nation.

Greece and Turkey have been locked in a tense standoff in recent weeks as Turkish survey vessels and drill ships continue to prospect for gas in waters where Greece and Cyprus claim exclusive economic rights.

Greek and Turkish armed forces have been conducting military exercises in the area in a show of muscle-flexing to underscore each side’s resolve.

European Union members Greece and Cyprus accuse Turkey of violating international law and of “gunboat diplomacy.” Turkey insists it’s defending its rights and those of breakaway Turkish Cypriots on ethnically split Cyprus to their rightful share of the area’s potential gas deposits.

The EU is mulling imposing tougher sanctions on Turkey over its “illegal” actions if talks fail to end the standoff.

Lavrov’s visit comes a month after Anastasiades asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to personally step in so that Turkey “is convinced to cease its unlawful actions.”

But Russia's top diplomat also expressed Moscow’s concern over what he said was U.S. attempts to stir up “conflict instead of peaceful solutions” in the eastern Mediterranean.

Lavrov was alluding to Washington’s decision to partially lift an arms embargo on Cyprus that was designed to prevent an arms race hindering United Nations-facilitated...