Russian penetration in Greece and Putin’s strategy in the Balkans
Last December, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov expressed the Russian side…’s concern over the Greek-American agreement and the point concerning the port of Alexandroupolis. In January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sent similar messages to the side, with Northern Greece at the center of Russian interest as well as the Balkans. And he has taken care to create links that are now emerging…
It has not been many days since the Russian ambassador to Sarajevo threatened Bosnia with Ukraine’s fate, saying “Bosnia has the right to decide whether to join NATO, but Moscow has the right to react to it. decision based on its own interests “. This statement was made essentially through the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the international community to oppose the Putin regime for the bloodshed it causes, violating the sovereign rights of a country.
Russia’s interest in the Balkans is not yesterday. Considering the region as the “soft belly” of the EU, it seeks to avoid the accession process of the Western Balkan countries but also its accession to NATO (for the countries that have not yet joined). With the support of the Serbian nationalists, the country that has refused to transfer to the sanctions process (as well as Turkey) Russia for a number of years seeks to join its chariot, the Balkan countries using specific methods.
In the context of the generalized and total rupture with the West that Putin seems to seek to implement the vision of Greater Russia and Eurasianism, it is taken for granted that the next game in the “undeclared” war against Western civilization, based mainly in the West. Balkans. Where it has penetrated either through governments as is the case in Serbia, or through methods of propaganda, allocation of resources, acquisitions but also cultural and religious mechanisms in the face of Orthodoxy and the supposed ties as is the case with Greece and Bulgaria.
And these are the two cases where Russia gave weight to propaganda to promote the concept of the “blonde race” and a cultural unification that steps on the Orthodox Church. Suffice it to recall the recent arrest of American citizen John Hannick and the accusations made against him by American justice regarding his role in these two countries. This is the man who is accused that since 2014 he acted on the orders of a Russian oligarch, a close friend of Vladimir Putin, in order to promote Russian interests and especially Russian propaganda in Greece and Bulgaria.
Northern Greece has long been at the center of the Putin regime’s interest, and earlier, but the ability to fund cultural and religious groups, associations and other activities has become easier with the issuance of oligarchs’ accounts and their gradual inclusion in the forbes list. the richest people in the world.
Bank letters of guarantee and oversized accounts allowed a certain number of people close to Vladimir Putin and his entourage to invest in Greece, the northern part of which appeared more positive in terms of relations with the Athenian state. Companies on the other hand invested millions of euros adorned with a spirit of Greek-Russian friendship and brotherhood, travel agencies focusing on the movement of tourists to and from Russia created a network of relationships that at least until recently had Vladimir Putin been considered a foreigner. in the country.
The economic crisis and the memoranda turned Russian oligarchs into Messiahs despite the fact that a little later in 2015 Putin pretended not to understand when the then leadership of the country was looking for “ports” for the “naval” Greek people to sail. Besides, he had no reason. The penetration was in progress to the point that the American services identify persons in the Greek government with whom there should be no contacts, especially with regard to NATO issues.
Their relationship with the oligarchs was so obvious that there was no need for any more evidence, especially when they had reached the point of appointing consuls in Alexandroupolis who worked openly with the Kremlin, forming political associations, holding fraternity events with Russian municipalities. and setting up statues. All of this is funded by the many, many purchases made in recent years through a central money supply line, which prosecutors are now seeking after linking almost all of the oligarchs to the Kremlin central administration through Russian, Swiss, German and British banks. . but also American.
Thessaloniki and Alexandroupolis were the two main axes of the Russian lobby in Greece, with an open line to that in Sofia, Bulgaria, where Greeks appeared to have important elements associated with companies operating in northern Greece. The “Putin’s Friends” group played a diverse role between Mount Athos, Alexandroupolis, Crimea, Moscow and St. Petersburg (excluding some other areas in both countries).
Even on the islands of Lemnos and Corfu they arrived in the past, at the beginning of 2010, to recall monuments, while with the pilgrimage tourism the streams to Alexandroupolis, Mount Athos where there are Russian churches and monasteries (Vatopedi dominated and dominates as a pole).
The … interconnection with the Balkan countries, the parallel investments and the establishment of subsidiaries has created a network of relations that is currently under control and in the context of the investigation carried out for the former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. (Information indicates that money and company investigations stumble in some cases on the lines of connection with Venezuela).
The activation of business centers, the transformation of people associated with Putin as liberators, and the penetration of the extreme and poor strata are the basis for the promotion of propaganda. Not in relation to the invasion of Ukraine, but to the propaganda that can provoke reactions when, for example, the government is openly and as clearly as possible opposed to Russian expansion and the cessation of another country’s sovereign rights.
The divisive rhetoric that is observed has exactly this meaning, as does the policy of equal distances which, although it condemns war and invasion, gives an alibi through the accusations to the opposite side (which is not Ukraine but the West as a whole), for similar acts against third countries.
The penetration that has been completed in Greece is not negligible if one is watching what is happening lately or watching the way Putin’s revisionism is treated from within and by individuals.
The proposals that are prescribed by many for the Western Balkans and not only to be the next steps of a regime that has decided to make the bigotry of a leader but supported by the financial establishment in a relationship that can not be disrupted, regardless of the leaks that some of his oligarchic friends do.
From the geopolitical position, Greece can be at the center of developments since the powder keg of the Balkans is not excluded to be the next target of Vladimir Putin and his associates. It is worth noting that there is no analyst, outside the borders mainly, who does not refer to the issue of the Balkans and the main targeting of the Kremlin. Therefore the activity that has developed in the country in combination with the many euros that have fallen especially in the last 10 years that must be treated with due care especially if one does not want to be surprised.
In this context, the importance of the Greek-American agreement is highlighted, especially the point that seems to worry Moscow and its supporters, which concerns the port of Alexandroupolis, which is becoming a hub of special importance, if not greater than that of Souda, so for NATO and for Europe as a whole.