The Russia-Greece Friendship Association and the Greek-Russian Association have expressed their concern over aggravating relations between Moscow and Athens saying it was necessary to re-establish an atmosphere of trust, dialogue and cooperation.
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th August, 2018) The Russia-Greece Friendship Association and the Greek-Russian Association have expressed their concern over aggravating relations between Moscow and Athens saying it was necessary to re-establish an atmosphere of trust, dialogue and cooperation.
In July, Greece expelled two Russian diplomats and banned two more from entering Greece over national security concerns. Russia refuted the accusations, with Russian Ambassador to Greece Andrey Maslov calling them "absurd." In response, Russia expelled two Greek diplomats.
"The Greek-Russian Association and the Russia-Greece Friendship Association consider the current state of affairs abnormal. Such a situation requires active efforts to re-establish the atmosphere of trust, dialogue and cooperation between Greece and Russia. These efforts must not be limited to the actions of official bodies. The civil society plays an important role in Greek-Russian relations and proved its effectiveness. We hope the same thing will happen this time. Our associations are ready to fully contribute to it," the associations said in a joint statement received by Sputnik.
The associations also called the expulsion of Russian and Greek diplomats an "episode which is inconsistent with traditional and proven friendship between the two peoples."
According to Greek media, the Russian diplomats expelled from Greece attempted to intervene in the agreement on changing the name of Greece's neighbor, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, to the Republic of Northern Macedonia.
Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said Russia did not interfere in Greece's internal affairs, adding that Moscow hoped that the situation will improve.
