Russia rejected Cyprus' request for loan during financial crisis: former Cypriot president

Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly rejected requests of Cyprus for a loan during the financial crisis, former Cypriot President Demetris Christofias has said.

In an interview with Greek SKAI TV late Tuesday, Christofias also said he had warned Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Moscow's negative stance.

"I had requested numerous times from President Putin a loan of 5 billion to 7 billion euros to face the crisis," said Christofias, who served as Cypriot president from 2008 to 2013.

"He turned down the requests and in my opinion he made a mistake," he added.

When the radical left SYRIZA party won the January 2015 general elections in Greece and started examining financing options beyond the bailout mechanism involving the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christofias warned newly elected Tsipras of Russia's response to Cyprus' request.

"When he visited Cyprus I had a meeting with him for almost 40 minutes and I told him all this. I faced these difficulties and in my opinion you (Tsipras) should be careful (not to look beyond the EU-IMF mechanism)," Christofias said, recalling his meeting with Tsipras.

Tsipras swept to power in January 2015 on a policy platform to pull down the EU-IMF bailout and put an end to austerity.

However, as the debt-laden country was teetering on the brink of default with no alternative paths available, the government had to sign a third bailout program in July 2015. Endi