MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2021) Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias expressed hope on Monday that Athens and Moscow could further strengthen their relations for the benefit of broader challenges and issues.
"I hope we can further strengthen our relations to understand and contribute to the resolution of broader challenges and issues," Dendias said at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the resort city of Sochi.
The Greek diplomat added that the current meeting was a good opportunity to discuss both bilateral relations and regional issues.
Lavrov, in turn, recalled that the south of Russia, which is home to an active Greek community of about 30,000, has historically had a particularly strong bond with Athens.
"Both the place and the date of our meeting have an important symbolic meaning in terms of confirming our close historical ties," the Russian minister said.
The diplomat explained that May 24 marked the Day of Slavic Script and Culture, as Cyril and Methodius, who created the Cyrillic alphabet in the ninth century and translated the first church books, were from the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki.
The meeting took place as part of a two-day official visit by the Greek minister to Russia. After talks in Sochi, Dendias will travel to the neighboring cities of Anapa and Gelendzhik, which have a sizable share of Greek population, where he is expected to participate in a series of events and meetings with prominent members of the diaspora.
