"No matter what sanctions are imposed, they affect all countries," Anastasiades said. "And we have had plenty of reasons… to oppose them."
A spokesman for the Cypriot government, Nikos Christodoulides, told Sputnik on Monday that rounds of economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the 28-nation bloc had dealt a "serious" blow to the Cypriot economy.
After the 2008 financial crisis, Cyprus has been struggling with the EU bailout program that shut its banks and led to a loss of deposits in 2013.
Last year, the Cypriot government was forced to uphold EU sanctions against Russia, following the start of the Ukrainian armed conflict in April. Moscow responded by slapping the countries that introduced the sanctions with a year-long ban on food exports to Russia.
