Russia and Greece share common values, and the upcoming visit of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to Moscow and the meeting of the intergovernmental commission can open a "new era" in bilateral relations, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said on Monday after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in Moscow.
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2018) Russia and Greece share common values, and the upcoming visit of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to Moscow and the meeting of the intergovernmental commission can open a "new era" in bilateral relations, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said on Monday after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in Moscow."I met today with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu with a great pleasure. We had an opportunity to exchange views on our bilateral relations, as well as on security issues in the Mediterranean region, in the middle East and the Balkans ... We agreed that we will work in the coming months so that the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras [to Russia] on December 7 and the intergovernmental commission' activity could open a new era in the Greek-Russian relations," Kammenos said as quoted in the ministerial press release.
According to Kammenos, the sides agreed on maintenance of Russian military hardware in service with the Greek army.
"In military bilateral relations, within the framework of international treaties, we will continue to keep the Russian systems used by the Greek Armed Forces in good condition and we will cooperate in education, exchange of information on fight against terrorism and ensuring peace in our region," the minister added.
The visit of the Greek defense minister to Moscow became the first high-level visit of a Greek official to Russia after the recent diplomatic scandal between the two nations.
In July, Greece expelled two Russian diplomats over allegations of their attempts to sabotage the Greek-Macedonian talks on changing the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to the Republic of North Macedonia. Russia responded by expelling two Greek diplomats.
