The disputes on the militarization of the islands on the Aegean Sea, which is not legal according to international law, caused escalation of the tensions between Ankara and Athens. Moscow is also alarmed by the mention of a possible war between Türkiye and Greece. Recently, there was not an official declaration by Kremlin. Yet the development in the region concerns Russia as well. In that sense, Greek policy is affecting the relations of Moscow-Athens negatively.
Russian-Greek relations started to be worsened at the end of 2021. Before the meeting between President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis on December 8, 2021, Russians have expressed that they are concerned about the transfer of the weapons of NATO through Alexandroupoli Port of Greece to Ukraine and gathering of NATO and US military power in Greece. While Kremlin’s Spokesperson Dmitri Peskov is answering the question on what the concerns of Moscow on the updated defense cooperation agreement between Greece and US are, he claimed that “The question is quite easy. The NATO and US military is focusing on your region increasingly. Hundreds, even thousands of military equipment is being transferred to Greece. You are opening new bases for NATO and the same NATO declares us as enemies.”
In that sense, Russia is concerned about the opening of Greek bases to the US and armament of the region with the agreement signed with US on October 14, 2021, concerned Russia. This is like Türkiye’s concerns. Geographically, Greece is far away than Greece; however, ensurance of bases to the US negatively affected Moscow-Athens relations.
While Russia’s reaction towards Greece is about the armament by the US, Athens’ objection to Russia is about the sale of S-400 antiaircraft missile system to Türkiye. When Greek side demanded Russia to not sell those weapons to Türkiye, Kremlin has claimed that S-400 system is the defense system, and the American weapons carried through Alexandroupoli are offensive weapons. According to Russian resources, on the Port of Alexandroupoli, where the US was deployed, there are many American military equipment and weapons transferred, including 120 helicopters, 1000 tanks, and armored vehicles.[1]
Another reason why Russia reacted to Greece is also the facilities for the US with the defense agreement between Greece-US. For instance, the US will be advantageous geopolitically and strengthen her presence in the Balkans, Aegean, Mediterranean and Black Sea, thanks to military bases developed in Greece.
The US possessing a serious military superiority in the Aegean will start to create a threat for Russian fleet going from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean as well. While Russia is busy with the Ukrainian War and cannot hold the success on the Ukrainian front; Greece had an attitude towards Russia. On April 6, 2022, 12 Russian diplomats were deported by Greece. The 8 of 12 diplomats that were declared as “persona non grata” by Greece were the senior representatives of Russian Embassy.
On May 8, 2022, Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis has declared that there are three ways to continue the policies towards Russia. The first one is Ukraine’s armament for self-defense. The second is, the Western World must apply sanctions, which harm Russia seriously. The third one is, the communication canals with Russia must be kept open as much as possible. In addition, Mitsotakis indicated that the responsible of quadruple increase of energy prices in Europe and increase in electricity prices in Greece is Russia.[2]
Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who made official contacts in the US on May 16, 2022, he said that he will support Ukraine during the meeting with the President of the US Joe Biden and he repeated that he will collaborate to harm Russian economy seriously, while Biden said they will stand against Russia with Greece.[3]
It can be said that with those declarations, Greece has finalized her attitude towards Russia, and have taken up front openly. The basic aim of the visit of Mitsotakis to the US is to ensure Washington to make political pressure to Ankara and not give war planes. Besides, it was aimed to supply more modern weapons to the Greek Army. In return for this, Greece was on the side of the US against Russia.
Another area that Greek-Russian relations caused the conflict of interest is about energy security. Athens position on that issue is relevant for Türkiye as well. Greece is one of the countries dependent on Russian gas. Depending on the season, Russian gas holds 45-55% of imports.[4] Greece also aims at exporting the gas resources in the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe to decrease the dependency on Russia. Therefore, Greece not only aims at decreasing Russian gas internally, but also being the route of alternative resources for Russia in the European market. Besides, Greece endeavored building liquefied natural gas terminal in Alexandroupoli. Therefore, Greece intended to “eliminate” the dependency on Russian gas “strategically.”
Greece, who is still dependent on Russian gas, demanded to quit the list of sanctions of Europe towards Russian energy sectors. According to Greece, for now they had to take that kind of decision due to not having an alternative resource. Yet in the future Greece will try to get rid of the dependency both by increasing the number of gas terminals in the country and pipelines. At the same time Greece is planning to be one of the centers that supply energy for Europe.
Taking the strategic relations with the US into next level, supporting Ukraine and having the attitude on “punishing Russia” means for Greece to challenge Moscow’s benefits directly. The decisions of Greece on energy security and policies is received by Moscow negatively.
Athens’ aggressive attitude towards Türkiye and Ankara restraining Greece by reacting this is to be seen on the benefits of Kremlin. Even punishing Athens may be met positively. However, on the other hand, the rapprochement of Greece to the US more and more due to security against Türkiye and turning Greece to a “military base” is not overlapping the benefits of Russia, who tries to make an influence in the Eastern Mediterranean over Syria. Russia wants less American naval power in the region. Especially, American fleet’s being superior on the Aegean transfer lines over Greece makes Kremlin concerned.
The attitude of Greece approaching to the US will be determining factor for Russia’s relations with Athens in the long term. While Greece came under the influence of the US; it is possible that Russia search for ways to support an actor provide the balance of power against this.
Due to Ukrainian Crisis, Ukraine continues to be the focal point of Russia. After the war ends, Russia will be needed to develop a new kind of relations with the countries of the region. It can be said that Greece will not be the prior for Russian policy. In other words, the “anti-Russian” attitude that Greece follows and prefers as a long-term strategy has started to seriously affect the Moscow-Athens relations.
[1] “Кремль обеспокоился переброской военной техники НАТО в Грецию”, İzvestiya, https://iz.ru/1262981/2021-12-11/kreml-obespokoilsia-perebroskoi-voennoi-tekhniki-nato-v-gretciiu, (Date of Accession:15.06.2022).
[2] “Греция выступила за жесткие санкции против России”, Lenta.Ru, https://lenta.ru/news/2022/05/08/greece/, (Date of Accession: 15.06.2022).
[3] “Байден заявил о готовности Греции противостоять России вместе с США”, İzvestiya, https://iz.ru/1335500/2022-05-17/baiden-zaiavil-o-gotovnosti-gretcii-protivostoiat-rossii-vmeste-s-ssha, (Date of Accession: 15.06.2022).
[4] “Греческие импортеры перешли на оплату газа рублями”, Ria Novosti, https://ria.ru/20220524/gaz-1790307279.html, (Date of Accession: 15.06.2022).
