An “exchange of views” took place during President Nikos Christodoulides’ meeting with the head of the UK’s secret intelligence service MI6, Blaise Metreweli, on Friday, deputy government spokesman Yiannis Antoniou said.

He refrained from entering into much detail regarding the meeting during an appearance on Greek television channel Skai, but did say that “what we can safely convey … is that there was an exchange of positions and certain information regarding the situation which has prevailed in recent days”.

“There is cooperation with the bases’ administration both at a political and military level. There is certainly communication at the highest political level between [President Nikos Christodoulides] and the British prime minister [Sir Keir Starmer],” he said.

He then added that the British bases “fall within the domain of the Republic of Cyprus”, but that they “have their own defence systems”, while “the Republic of Cyprus also maintains its own, which are of advanced technology”.

The Republic of Cyprus’ air defences, he said, “have certainly been upgraded after the addition of two pairs of fighter jets from the Hellenic air force and the two frigates provided by the Greek government”.

On this front, he also made reference to the “generous support from other European countries”, with France having deployed a frigate and an aircraft carrier, and  Spain and Italy having also announced plans to send naval assets to the island’s vicinity.

“Consequently, we consider that we are adequate to the maximum extent possible in terms of air defence,” he said.

Returning to the matter of Christodoulides’ meeting with Metreweli, he said that “I think it would be very difficult for any reasonable person to tell you that this meeting was accidental, but we cannot talk too much about these issues”, before adding, “they are security issues”.

Later, he moved to stress that “the impression should not be given that conditions of war are prevailing in Cyprus”.

“What happened on Sunday happened. We are at a heightened level of preparedness, as I have previously mentioned. However, life continues as usual. We must not dramatise the situation, because you should understand that this has drastic consequences, both on people’s psychology, but mainly on the economy,” he said.

To this end, he said that “Cyprus is a tourist destination, it is a centre of administrative and professional services”, and that the island has “faced similar issues in the past”.

“Cyprus is safe for another reason, because many countries use it as a transit point for the removal of their citizens from the region. Consequently, we should offer a realistic picture,” he said.