Cyprus is opening three new consulates-general in the Russian Federation because increasingly more Russians are traveling to the island, Interfax-Tourism reports.

‘We do confirm that three consulates-general will soon start operating in Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, and Samara so as to service the Russian travelers going to Cyprus,’ Cyprus’s Foreign Affairs Minister Erato Kozakou-Markoulis said at a briefing in Moscow after talks with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday.

She noted that Cyprus considered the Russian market to be the second most important one in terms of tourism, as Russians ‘make up about 20% of all the travelers to Cyprus’.

‘This was achieved thanks to very close cooperation, and the opening of three new consulates is one proof of this,’ the minister stressed.