Information
Equipo Nizkor
        Bookshop | Donate
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor       

18Apr15


Deal with Russia not to resolve Greece economy troubles - Germany's finance minister


A deal that Greece is set to strike with Russia, according to media reports, will not help Athens to settle its economic problems, Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble told reporters on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

Commenting on media reports that an agreement between Moscow and Athens is allegedly to be inked in the foreseeable future, Schauble was certain it would not solve the problems Greece was faced with when the country was trying to fulfil the commitments of the memorandum of understanding concluded with European partners.

Earlier on Saturday, the German Spiegel online newspaper reported that Moscow would funnel a prepayment of three to five billion euros to Athens within the framework of a project for laying out a section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline via Greece. Spiegel Online said that Greece was planning to seal a deal in energy with Russia next Tuesday. The deal is supposed to help Athens recover in a complicated situation amid the mothballed talks on state debt restructuring with the European Union, the online newspaper said.

The money Russia would allocate would be a deterred credit and Greeks would be able to pay it off when transportation of gas via their territory to Europe along with operation of the Turkish Stream pipeline section yields revenues, the Spiegel Online said.

Meanwhile, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told the Business FM radio station on Saturday that there was no agreement with Athens on funnelling a prepayment of three to five billion euros within the framework of a project on laying out a section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline via Greece.

"Putin personally said at the phone-in conference that no-one has turned for help," Peskov told. "Naturally, an issue of energy partnership was on the table. Naturally, following the summit talks it was agreed that all the issues related to cooperation in energy would be considered at experts' level. But Russia did not promise to render financial assistance since no-one had asked for it."

Russian President Vladimir Putin had a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Moscow on April 8.

[Source: Itar Tass, Washignton, 18Apr15]

Bookshop Donate Radio Nizkor

Russian Affairs
small logoThis document has been published on 20Apr15 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.