Expulsion of Russian diplomats from Greece: causes and consequences

Athens will send Russian diplomats because of the alleged attempts by them to interfere in the affairs of Greece and oppose an agreement on a new name for the Republic of Macedonia. Russia will respond mirror, but the crisis will be quickly overcome.

Фото: Depositphotos

That could provoke the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Greece, says the publication RBC.

Dispatch from Greece

The Greek government decided to send two Russian diplomats and to ban two more Russians from entering Greece, Kathimerini reported on Wednesday, 11 in July, citing high-ranking sources in foreign policy circles.

According to the publication’s interlocutors, Athens accuses Russian diplomats of interfering in internal affairs, illegal actions against national security, attempts to gather information, as well as failed attempts to bribe Greek officials. Sources noted that Moscow is conducting “numerous and coordinated” actions to strengthen its influence in Greece. In the material of the newspaper, only one surname was named - an employee of the Russian embassy, ​​Viktor Yakovlev, information about the other diplomats is not given.

The Russian Foreign Ministry declined official comment. However, a Russian diplomatic source told RBC that in response to the actions of the Greek side, mirror measures would follow, as is usually the case with the expulsion of diplomats. The Greek Foreign Ministry declined to comment. Greece wishes to develop good relations with all states, but does not consider it possible to agree with behavior “which does not respect international law and the Greek state,” commented the expulsion of Russians by the Greek government spokesman Dimitris Dzanakopoulos. All necessary measures were taken, he said (quoted by Kathimerini).

Macedonian question

Фото: Depositphotos

The expelled Russian diplomats tried to influence the local authorities and representatives of the Greek Orthodox Church, Kathimerini writes, citing his own sources. According to the interlocutors of the publication, Russia tried to intervene in such sensitive issues of Greek domestic politics as the agreement between Greece and Macedonia on the name of the latter.

The fact that regarded as undesirable activities of diplomats could be associated with attempts to prevent the conclusion of an agreement on the name of Macedonia, said a Greek diplomatic source Reuters. He told the agency that Greece 6 July warned the Russian authorities about the undesirable behavior of four diplomats, and on Friday the issue was raised officially, and the diplomats were given time to leave the country, the agency reported. The same source said that the staff of the Russian diplomatic mission were involved in meetings against the conclusion of the agreement.

In June, the prime ministers of Greece and Macedonia, Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zayev, agreed to end the dispute over the name of Macedonia, which lasted almost 30 years, since the collapse of Yugoslavia. Athens did not like the name "Republic of Macedonia", because the toponym "Macedonia" geographically extends not only to Vardar Macedonia (98% of this territory coincides with the borders of the modern state of Macedonia), but also to Greek Aegean Macedonia, as well as Pirin Macedonia in Bulgaria. According to the Greek authorities, this could give the Macedonians a reason to claim rights to Greek territories and cultural heritage. The rigid position of Greece forced the Macedonian authorities to join the UN under the name “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. Due to the fact that Macedonia continued to use the name, which the Greeks did not like, Athens blocked its entry into NATO.

17 June Zaev and Tsipras signed an agreement under which the new name of the Balkan country will be “Northern Republic of Macedonia”. 20 June document was ratified by Parliament in Skopje. In the autumn in Macedonia, a referendum on the approval of the new name and parliamentary elections will be held.

In both Greece and Macedonia, the agreement was negatively perceived by part of the political forces. In Macedonia, the disgruntled camp is headed by President Gheorghe Ivanov, who belongs to the nationalist party Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity, which has consistently opposed concessions to Greece.

In Greece, the opposition is opposed by the New Democracy Party, interstate agreements provoked protests. The last demonstrations in the country took place on July 2 in Athens and Thessaloniki; however, they were few, notes Kathimerini. The previous action in Thessaloniki, 27 June, was bigger - 2,5 thousand people took part in it.

Implications for Relations with Russia

The fact that the solution of the issue with the name of Macedonia will open her membership in NATO was confirmed by Secretary General of the Alliance Jens Stoltenberg on July 10. On July 11, the leaders of the Alliance member countries 29 officially invited the country to NATO. “We agreed to invite Skopje to begin negotiations on accession,” Stoltenberg said. According to him, the process will take up to one and a half years.

Russian officials have repeatedly pointed out that the next expansion of NATO and the bloc's infrastructure will be perceived negatively. "Of course, we will not drop nuclear bombs <...> As I said, every country has the right to make decisions and make its own mistakes," Russian Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov commented on the possible entry of Macedonia into the military alliance. “There are mistakes and mistakes. There are mistakes that have consequences, ”he warned (quotes from RIA Novosti).

Sources who told Kathimerini about the expulsion of Russian diplomats, stressed that Athens had no complaints about other representatives of the Russian diplomatic mission. In the spring of this year, Greece refused to send Russian diplomats out of solidarity with Great Britain in the “Skripale case”, Macedonia then sent one, although the country is not part of the EU.

The scandal with the expulsion of diplomats broke out at a time when relations between Russia and Greece were already moving “along a downward trajectory,” Yury Kvashnin, head of the European Union's research sector at IMEMO RAN, stated in a conversation with RBC. After the leader of the SYRIZA party Alexis Tsipras came to power, Moscow and Athens were overwhelmed by euphoria, the expert recalled: “A number of top-level visits passed, loud statements were made about the prospects for strengthening ties.” However, in the final analysis, hopes were not justified, Kvashnin says, but “no significant progress in the Russian-Greek direction has happened.” “Greece has switched to strengthening the energy partnership with Cyprus and Israel, and besides, concern about the rapprochement between Moscow and Ankara has grown in Athens,” the expert said.

Russia is not the first time accused of trying to destabilize the situation in the Balkans. In the autumn of 2016, Russians were detained in Montenegro, who were accused by local law enforcement officers of a coup attempt. However, the next incident will not affect the reputation of Russia in the Balkans as a whole, says Pavel Kandel, a leading researcher at the Institute of Europe, RAS. "This is a local episode associated with specific circumstances," - said the expert RBC.

The representative of the Russian embassy in Greece, refusing to comment on the situation with the expulsion of diplomats, assured RBC that preparations are underway for the visit of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the country in the fall.

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