ALEC LUHN
Determined to take Greek-Russian relations out of "the deep freeze", a defiant Alexis Tsipras flew to Moscow yesterday for talks with president Vladimir Putin, ratcheting up the pressure on the western creditors keeping his debt-stricken country afloat.
Amid speculation that Mr Putin might make an offer of financial help that the Greek prime minister will find hard to turn down, officials said the controversial trip should be seen through the prism of Athens’s leftist-led government doing “what is best for Greece”.
"The Greek prime minister will go wherever it is beneficial for Greece, " one insider was quoted as saying. Officials described the visit as being both "politically friendly and economically promising".
The two leaders, who hold formal talks and a working lunch today, are expected to sign an array of accords, including a three-year plan to strengthen ties economically and commercially.
The Kremlin meeting is also expected to focus on EU sanctions against Russia, which Mr Tsipras has publicly condemned as a "road to nowhere". Russia's Kommersant business daily reported a discount on gas deliveries was likely to be top of the agenda. Cash-strapped Greece imports 57 per cent of its gas supplies from Russia.
“We are ready to consider the issue of a gas price discount for Greece,” the newspaper reported, quoting an unnamed Russian government source.
Moscow would also be willing to give Greece loans – just as it had done with Cyprus – on the condition it had access to "certain assets in Greece", the source said. International creditors at the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund have pressed for a fire sale of state properties, ranging from airports to ports, to balance the books.
Ports and infrastructure
Russia has expressed interest in the Greek transport sector and the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki. Vasily Koltashov, a leftist economist at the Moscow-based Institute of Globalisation and Social Movements, told
Kommersant
the Greek railway network, OSE, “could definitely be interesting for Russian business”.
Western diplomats are wary Putin will exploit Athens to further Russia's ambition of dismembering Europe. Tsipras's hard line on EU sanctions imposed last year over the Ukraine crisis could play into Mr Putin's hands.
Mr Tsipras brought forward his trip by a month, underscoring the significance his government gives to the fellow Orthodox Christian state. Although euro zone leaders are playing down the Kremlin visit, the talks are bound to further alienate foreign lenders propping up the moribund Greek economy.
The anti-austerity Greek government has spent most of its two months in power fruitlessly trying to unlock €7.2 billion in assistance from its €240 billion bailout. – (Guardian)
