This study aims to replace the established yet erroneous "Realist" reading of Russian-Cypriot relations. By employing a new Theory called "Pragmatic Idealism," the book demonstrates that, up until Putin's war, these relations were not limited to the satisfaction of narrow "national interests" alone. What the "realist" approach has overlooked is the much broader normative horizon, which includes a range of shared values and principles, such as respect for International Law, International Ethics, solidarity, mutual respect, and friendship.

This groundbreaking view of the bilateral relations between Cyprus and Russia reveals the accumulation of rich mutual benefits, namely diplomatic, political, economic, cultural, emotional, and others, that have established a unique and multidimensional relationship of "peculiar friendship" between the two states and their peoples. An optimistic consequence of the breadth and depth of this relationship is the hope that, after the end of Putin's war, this peculiar friendship is expected to be reborn.