Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in Istanbul on February 10 that Moscow could only provide Greece with rubles if Athens asked Russia for financial aid.
“Recently in those cases where we have been providing assistance it was provided in national currency, that is Russian rubles,” Siluanov said on the sidelines of a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of 20 advanced and developing economies.
Following the confirmation of Greece’s Syriza government, eurozone finance ministers meet in Brussels on February 11 for another round of negotiations, including a possible bridge loan until August for Athens.
Earlier in the day, Greek Foreign Minister Nikolaos Kotzias met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Lavrov told a joint press conference the two ministers agreed that there could only be a political situation to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. He added that Moscow appreciated the “constructive” position ofGreecein ties between Russia and the European Union, which has imposed several waves of sanctions onRussia overUkraine.
Meanwhile, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said in a TV interview on February 10 that “if there is no deal - hopefully (there will be) - and if we see that Germany remains rigid and wants to blow apart Europe, then we have the obligation to go to Plan B. Plan B is to get funding from another source”.“It could the United States at best, it could be Russia, it could be China or other countries,” he added.
Late in January, Siluanov said that sanctions-hit Russia would consider extending financial aid to debt-ridden Greece.
Analysts say that Greece’s rapprochement with Russia is simply a negotiating tactic as talks in Brussels move on and also fit in Athens’ multilateral foreign policy.
Siluanov clarified on February 10 in Istanbul that Russia hasn’t received a request for help from Greece. He noted, however, that the sharp drop in global commodity prices, especially for energy, and the plunging value of the ruble, means the situation in Russia, its financial capacity, is lower than it was three to five years ago.
Jeffrey Mankoff, fellow and deputy director of the Russia & Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC,told New Europeon February 9 that Greece is a tempting target for Russia precisely because of its economic difficulties.
“There has been a strategy of trying to pick off individual European countries and to create contradictions within European institutions and that hasn’t gone away if anything it has probably escalated as the conflict in Ukraine has come on,” Mankoff said.
“That’s the economics that led to the Syriza government coming to power and the economics that give Russia leverage because the IMF, the Germans are not going to be putting more money into Greece if the government doesn’t stay on course with the reforms that the previous government committed itself to.
But if Tsipras can go to Moscow and get some of that, then that’s something he may well do and I think the Russians are going to try and take advantage of Greece’s vulnerability to financial markets,” Mankoff said.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/hunt-red-cash