Tsipras toes EU line on Russia sanctions

"Greece is a member-state of the European Union and, despite the fact that it has a particular economic interest in an immediate resolution of the crisis and the lifting of sanctions that have had an extremely painful effect on the Greek economy, nevertheless we will not fragment European unity," he said.
At the same time, Tsipras noted that the other side must have incentives to take steps and that channels of communication, dialogue and diplomacy must be kept open. While a hard stance might be necessary, by itself it would not be effective, he suggested, pointing to examples from the international experience where such tactics did not bring results. "In this sense, the Greek stance could be more useful than that of the other EU member-states," he added.
The Greek prime minister said his talks with Poroshenko were also an opportunity to brief Ukraine's president on developments concerning the Cyprus issue, since Ukraine holds the chair of the UN Security Council during this month, and relay a message from the European Commission reporting progress on the issue of visas for Ukrainian citizens.
Earlier in the press conference, Tsipras said that Greece's position called for respect of international law and support for the new prospects in relations between the west with Russia. 
“We agreed on the need to observe the truce and chiefly on the implementation of the Minsk Agreement,” he said, noting that this was a position steadily adopted by Greek diplomacy. He also noted Greece’s support for all mediation efforts to end the crisis.
Asked about relations between the EU and Russia, Tsipras said the crisis in the Ukraine had affected these “as a whole” and stressed the need to mobilise the processes for a clear roadmap to overcome the crisis.
Tsipras is in Ukraine since Wednesday on a working visit, accompanied by Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, Deputy Foreign Minister for Greeks Abroad Terens Quick and the head of the foreign ministry's international economic relations general secretariat Giorgios Tsipras.