Upbeat in Russia-Greece Relations

By Syed Qamar Afzal Rizvi.

 

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with Greek leaders in Athens as he makes a first visit to the European Union this year shortly before the bloc is due to weigh whether to extend sanctions against Russia over Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to build closer relations with Greece as he wrapped up a two-day trip to the EU state by visiting the monastic community of Mount Athos, one of Orthodox Christianity’s holiest sites. Russia and Greece are both largely Orthodox Christian countries and share close religious ties.

 

Europe’s alarming

 

Deepening ties between Greece’s new government and Russia have set off alarm bells across Europe, as the leaders in Athens wrangle with international creditors over reforms needed to avoid bankruptcy.

While Greece may be eyeing Moscow as a bargaining chip, some fear it is inexorably moving away from the West, towards a more benevolent ally, a potential investor and a creditor.

The new government’s intention to forge closer ties with Moscow became evident as soon as the leftist Syriza party won the 25 January election.

Within 24 hours, the first official to visit the newly-elected prime minister was the Russian ambassador, whereas it took German Chancellor Angela Merkel two days to congratulate him with a rather frosty telegram.

On becoming foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias questioned the rationale and effectiveness of EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine and, from day one, the defence minister advocated stronger relations with Moscow.

Like most members of the Syriza cadre, Mr Tsipras and Mr Kotzias descend politically from the pro-Russian Greek Communist Party.

Mr Kammenos, in common with other hard-right European politicians, also has longstanding ties to Russia.

Samuel Huntington’s controversial thesis on “the clash of civilisations,” which places Greece squarely in the Russian-led Orthodox axis, is rejected by many scholars, but widely accepted by Greeks.

A global survey by the Pew Research Center from September 2013 found that 63% of Greeks held favourable views of Russia.

Only 23% of Greeks had a positive view of the EU last autumn, in the latest Eurobarometer survey.

 

Historical linkage

 

Relations between Greece and Russia were established in 1828 and have been maintained since, aside from a short pause between the October Revolution in 1917 and 1924, when they were reestablished. On December 27, 1991, Greece recognized Russia as the legal successor to the Soviet Union.

Moscow and Athens engage in active political dialogue, over 10 official and high-level working visits have taken place since 1993. The most recent one was Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ visit to Moscow in April 2015.

At the May 9, 2015 events in Moscow devoted to the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, the Hellenic Republic was represented by Parliament Speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias was in Moscow with a working visit in February 2015, at the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

 

Greece is linked to Russia by strong historical ties of friendship based on shared spiritual and cultural values. Contacts between the two countries are frequent and include reciprocal visits of the ministerial and political leadership. The most recent visits of Russian officials to Greece were those of the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov (October 2013), Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (December 2013), and Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksey Meshkov (November 2014). There is a Joint Interministerial Committee between the two countries on issues of economic, industrial, scientific and technological cooperation. The Greek-Russian JIC last convened in 2013 and a new meeting is being pursued for 2015. There are also broad prospects for cooperation in the cultural sector, and by joint decision of the two sides, 2016 will be a ‘Year of Greece’ in Russia and a ‘Year of Russia’ in Greece.

An additional important factor contributing to the development of the relations between the two countries is the historical presence in the Russian Federation of a significant number of Russian citizens of Greek origin, who reside mainly in the southern Russian periphery, on the Black Sea. The Greek language is taught at a number of Russian universities, including at the Byzantine and Modern Greek Philosophy Department of the Lomosonov Moscow State University, the Modern Greek Department of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, the Greek Literature Department of Kuban State University, and the chair of Philology of Petrozavodsk State University, in Saint Petersburg.

 

What Americans think

 

Russia may find some pleasure in threatening to punish the sanctions-fixated EU with counter-sanctions—much in the same way the Greeks found joy in rejecting the EU’s demands for financial discipline. Tsipras called Putin the morning after the referendum and received hearty congratulations for Greece’s exercise in democracy. But he didn’t get a single ruble in urgently needed credits. Escalating budget cuts in Russia have begun to inflict pain on Putin’s own oligarchs, not to mention pensioners. The international arbitration court’s ruling that Russia must pay $50 billion for expropriating the assets of former oil giant Yukos looms large over the stressed and shrinking Russian state budget.

Nevertheless, Putin and Tsipras keep pretending that they could somehow join efforts in resisting EU pressure. While this is perhaps only a minor irritation for Brussels bureaucrats, it is to the great detriment of the deeply troubled Greek and Russian peoples.

 

Economic ties

 

According to Russian customs statistics, Russia’s trade turnover with Greece in 2014 amounted to $4.17 billion and to $2.28 billion in 2015.

The decline in trade is related, in particular, to the ban of EU food products import imposed by Russia in August 2014 in response to sanctions against Moscow.

Russian direct investment in Greece was estimated at $653 million in the first nine months of 2015.

The Joint Russian-Greek Commission on Economic, Industrial, Scientific and Technical Cooperation has been in place since 1997. The commission is chaired by Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov and Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Mardas. The most recent meeting of the joint commission was held in the Russian Black Sea city Sochi in November 2015.

 

Cultural ties

 

The countries also maintain cultural cooperation. In January 2016, Putin and his Greek counterpart Prokopis Pavlopoulos announced a cross-cultural year at an opening ceremony in Moscow. The event program includes not only cultural exchange but also the boost of political, defense, economic, tourism, science and technology cooperation.

According to the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism, Greece was the third most popular country among Russian tourists for the first nine months of 2015. However, this figure is 48 percent lower than that for the same period in 2014, which is attributed to the ruble exchange rate fluctuations, while the number of Greek tourists traveling to Russia increased by 7 percent during the same period.

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