During a press conference in Ufa, Russia for the BRISCS/SCO conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed developments concerning Greece.
Putin argued that Russia does have the financial capabilities to help Greece but repeated that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has not asked Russia for financial assistance.
“You can blame everything on the Greeks. But even if there were violations, where was the European Commission before? Why had it never tried to amend the ways of the previous Greek governments?” Putin asked and added “There are issues to discuss. I am sure that the Greek government also has its own points to make.”
Russia’s President also contrasted the restrictions the Greek government faces as an EU and Eurozone member, such as limited economic tools, with the European Central Bank having absolute control of the Euro, to the benefits it enjoys like getting loans and tax breaks.
“Those are choices the Greek people and the Greek government are supposed to make. It’s their own choice even though their consequence and implications affect Russia along with other European countries. Even though we are not an EU member-state we have very strong economic ties and relations with the European Union. The EU is our number one foreign trade partner. So of course we are watching the developments with much concern and alarm sometimes but we do hope that this crisis will be resolved shortly,” he said.
In June, Greece and Russia signed a deal on the construction of the TurkStream pipeline along Greek territory.
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