The upcoming trip of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to Moscow, where he is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin is not in search for a loan, but rather an attempt to please Greek voters, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
According to the newspaper report, the Russian economy is not in the position to support the Greek economy, nor could it be regarded as an alternate funding source for Greece. As such, Wednesday’s visit to Russia aims to please Greek voters, as it can be viewed as being defiant to the European creditors.
Whether this will have an effect in the critical negotiations remains to be seen. The report underlines that the Prime Minister and a number of Greek politicians have openly criticized the European Union’s sanctions against Russia, in response to the Ukrainian crisis. The benefits for the Russian president are more obvious though, given that the Kremlin wants to highlight any “cracks” in the West’s front against Russian policy in the Ukrainian crisis.
