The Christodoulides government on Cyprus was in full “defense mode” on Thursday after the release of a video on X allegedly portraying how President Nikos Christodoulides and his associates bypassed campaign spending caps and set up a purported pay-for-access scheme.
The Cypriot government angrily rejected the allegations as fabrications emanating from edited video footage, which itself was taken clandestinely.
In a first salvo, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis charged that the video “attempts to damage the image of the government and country through false, misleading claims and arbitrary conclusions”.
He later referred to an investigation into a “hybrid attack against the Republic of Cyprus” after new evidence was collected by state services.
Former energy minister George Lakkotrypis, who appears in the footage, filed a complaint with Nicosia’s criminal investigation department after the video was posted and widely circulated.
He said the editing aimed to harm not only himself but also the Republic of Cyprus and the president while he linked the leak to Cyprus assuming the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
“It is no accident that video was leaked a day after the commencement of the Cypriot presidency of the EU Council,” he said.
The video footage first appeared in a post on X on the verified account “@EmilyTanalyst”, with a name of “Emily Thompson” attached. The biography on the account reads: “I am an independent researcher, analyst and lecturer focused mainly on American domestic and foreign policies.”
The account was created in July 2022 and as of Thursday, after the uproar, still had no more than 800 followers.

The first real post by the account’s user/s came two days ago. Previously the account only reposted other accounts’ posts, exclusively with political content, or merely replied and always laconically, i.e. “wow”, “exhausting”, “this is going to matter more and more”, “saving this for later” and “hmmm”.
The narrator, a female speaking with a British accent, commences the video with the phrase: “He funded his campaign with illegal cash – disguised as donations – to bypass the one-million-euro limit.”