ATHENS: Greece failed to win support from creditors for proposals to cut spending and receive €7bn in bailout funds in return. Greece needs the money as government coffers empty out and bills come due, such as a debt payment to the International Monetary Fund on April 9, the day after Tsipras visits Putin in Moscow.
Hollande’s government views Tsipras’ actions as a restlessness stemming from the stalemate with Greece’s creditors over releasing more money from a 240 billion-euro ($258 billion) bailout fund, one of the people said. Still, it’s troublesome that Tsipras’s government seems to lack a consistent strategic plan, the person said.
“We trust that the talks with the Russian leadership will be conducted in the spirit of our shared politics,” Michael Roth, Germany’s deputy minister for European affairs, said in an interview. “It’s not only advisable for Greece to remain in the euro economically speaking, but it’s also important from a European and foreign policy point of view.”
Russia is Greece’s biggest trading partner, mainly due to the latter’s reliance on energy imports, and the two have long historical ties. The countries share the Orthodox Christian faith and Russia played a key role in Greece winning its independence in 1832. The Mediterranean country’s geopolitical position between East and West was even reflected in its first two political parties, the conservative “Russian Party” and the liberal “English Party,” both of which were founded during the revolution against Ottoman rule.
