NICOSIA - Britain and Cyprus pledged on Tuesday to boost ties during a visit by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in an endorsement of the pro-west tilt the Mediterranean island has taken since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

       A former British colony, Cyprus has worked hard to shake off a reputation as a haven for Russian businesses and light-touch regulation, and is aligned with the west over Russia and amid growing turmoil in the Middle East.

       Starmer, on a multi-day visit to the Middle East, was in Cyprus on Tuesday, the first visit of a British prime minister to the former colony since Edward Heath in 1971.

       After a short welcoming ceremony, Starmer told Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides he felt privileged to be there.

       Christodoulides was received at the White House earlier this year in a first by a Cypriot president in almost three decades.

       Britain has offered expertise for the island to create a sanctions unit, which was a focus of discussions. It still plays a role in Cypriot affairs as one of three guarantor powers of Cypriot independence, along with Turkey and Greece.

       Starmer visited service personnel and families at RAF Akrotiri, a British military base on the southern coast.

       Tuesday's visit drew criticism from breakaway North Cyprus, a statelet recognised only by Ankara, for ignoring the Turkish Cypriots as the other main party in the Cyprus conflict. REUTERS