22 March 2013 Last updated at 07:24 ET
Coming hours 'to decide Cyprus' fate - government
The coming hours will decide Cyprus' fate as it struggles to meet the terms of an international bailout, the government spokesman says.
"Any solution involves pain," Christos Stylianides told reporters in Nicosia, without giving details.
Parliament is debating plans to raise the 5.8bn euros (£4.9bn; $7.5bn) needed to qualify for the 10bn-euro bailout, having rejected an earlier deal.
Without the bailout, the cash supply to the euro member's banks may be cut off.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades held talks on Friday with representatives of the bailout "troika", which is made up of the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The package being debated in parliament was proposed after plans to raise the money through a one-off bank deposit levy of up to 9.9% caused a storm of protest.
The Cypriot government urged the country's MPs to "take the big decisions" to prevent a financial meltdown.
"We must all assume our share of the responsibility," Mr Stylianides said in a televised statement.
Talks in Moscow on possible new financial aid from Russia, a key investor in Cyprus, have failed.
Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, speaking after talks with his Cypriot counterpart Michael Sarris, said Russian investors were not interested in Cyprus' offshore gas reserves.
Russia gave Cyprus an emergency loan of 2.5bn euros in 2011. Mr Siluanov said that no new Russian loan had been on the table with Mr Sarris because of limits imposed by the EU on Cypriot borrowing. BBC
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