Tsipras speaks with Putin following ‘No’ vote

Tsipras speaks with Putin following ‘No’ vote
July 6, 2015, 12:49 pm

Russian President Vladimir Putin with Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras in Moscow, Russia on 8 April 2015 [PPIO]

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday “expressed his support for the Greek people in overcoming the country’s current difficulties” said a Kremlin statement.

In a phone conversation on Monday, Putin and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras discussed the Greek referendum as well as Russia-Greece cooperation.

“Mr Putin and Mr Tsipras discussed the results of the Greek referendum on international creditors’ conditions for providing financial aid to Athens, and discussed several matters concerning further development of bilateral cooperation,” said the statement.

Tsipras initiated the call, the Kremlin said.

Greece has voted against austerity measures suggested by European creditors as part of a bailout package to aid the government to repay its $350-billion debt.

Early on Monday, Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis stepped down saying it would help Tsipras negotiate a better deal with foreign creditors.

“Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the prime minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today,” he said.

Greek Premier Tsipras has said his government is ready to return immediately to negotiations with creditors in a bid to open shuttered banks.

Earlier last month at a Russian economic forum in Saint Petersburg, the Greek Prime Minister criticized the EU for believing that it “was the center of the world”.

“The economic center of the planet has shifted. There are new emerging forces that are playing a more important role geopolitically and economically. International relations are more and more characterized by multi-polarity,” said Tsipras.

“Enhanced cooperation among the BRICS countries is another manifestation of the new world order at the moment,” he added.

TBP