PRESS RELEASE
Greece Putting Plan B In Place on Eve of Tsipras Trip to Moscow
April 6, 2015 (EIRNS)—Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and the foreign ministers of Turkey, Serbia, Hungary and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.) will hold talks in Budapest on Tuesday, April 7 which will focus on their potential participation in Russian plans for the new Turkish Stream pipeline. The aim is to adopt a joint declaration of interest in the project, according to the Greek daily Kathimerini. This is the pipeline, announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ankara in December, would replace the South Stream which was supposed to go through Bulgaria but was blocked by the European Commission.
Kotzias is expected to then fly to Moscow, where Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras begins his two-day visit to Russia on April 8.
In comments yesterday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tsipras and Putin would discuss economic ties and the European Union’s sanctions against Russia.
"Relations between Moscow and the EU will be discussed in the light of Brussels’ policy of sanctions and Athens’ quite cold attitude to this policy,"
Peskov said.
Meanwhile Greek Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, commenting on his recent meeting in Moscow said that the results "may mark a new era in the two countries’ energy, economic and political relations." In the interview with the Sunday edition of I Avgi ("The Dawn") newspaper, he said
"this new hopeful potential will become reality with specific agreements not only for the Russian pipeline but for other issues.... I believe that Alexis Tsipras’ visit to Moscow and his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin may be a landmark towards this direction."
He said a Russian pipeline deal marks
"a new chapter of upgraded cooperation in the Greek-Russian relations that will include and the Russian natural gas pipeline in Greece may change positively the political image and form of our region and of Europe." He said that a Greek-Russian agreement would also help Greece in its negotiations with the EU at a time when the EU is confronting the new Greek government with "unbelievable prejudice" as though it were a "semi-colony."
The "European Institutions" continue to take the German CDU absolute hard line with Greece, demanding full austerity "reforms" while a British-German press campaign demands that Tsipris purge Syriza’s left wing in Parliament and replace them with opposition delegates!
EIR Founding Editor Lyndon LaRouche commented today that this hard line
"is going to sink Europe, its derivatives markets and bankrupt banks, not Greece. Greece needs economic development, not money, and that’s what’s being discussed with the BRICS." "The showdown is coming, perhaps within days," LaRouche said, "and Putin will back Greece up. We don’t know exactly the measures he will take, but they will be sufficient."
