Moscow's visious attack on Athens - The background behind the new Russian threats

The press secretary of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, made a provocative statement against Greece yesterday, escalating the tension between the two countries.

"Russia will respond appropriately to Greece's decision to build and use sea drones with Ukraine," Maria Zakharova said, among other things, in an interview, sharpening the aggressive rhetoric towards Athens.

It is clear that diplomatic relations between the two countries are at their lowest after Athens' continuous and active support for Kiev.

However, yesterday's statements are the tip of the iceberg of a series of aggressive acts by Moscow against Athens, with Russian diplomacy directly threatening Greece.

Although the Russian official referred exclusively to the Greek-Ukrainian agreement on drones, it is possible that Moscow's aggressive reaction was largely caused by recent developments that make Greece the main gateway for American liquefied natural gas to Europe, as an alternative, after the complete independence of Europe from Russian energy resources.

All this in the wake of Zelensky's recent visit to Athens, where the American plan to wean Europe off Russian hydrocarbons and the parallel strengthening of Ukraine's energy security was sealed in the most official way.

What bothered Moscow bothered

According to sources with good knowledge of the situation, the role of Athens in these plans that shape a new architecture of energy security has disturbed Moscow, as the agreement for the supply and distribution of American LNG to Ukraine via Athens creates new data, removing from Moscow a crucial geostrategic advantage in the military conflict with Kiev. Until the war, Ukraine was completely dependent on Russian natural gas, while recently, after the Russian attacks on Kiev's natural gas storage facilities, Ukraine was facing a serious energy problem, which seems to be being solved after the recent events in which the Greek side also played a key role.

This is probably the main reason for the reaction of the Russian Foreign Ministry, although Maria Zakharova did not directly raise this issue in her statements.

It should be noted that Zelensky's visit to Athens was preceded by the visit to Greece of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaia Kallas, who had expressed her satisfaction with Greece's stance on Ukraine. She then stated on the sidelines of her meeting with the Greek Prime Minister that "You are also a staunch supporter of Ukraine, diplomatically, militarily and economically. This is important, because at the moment Russia is not showing any sign of truly wanting peace."

Greece-Ukraine agreement on drones

Regarding the drone issue, it is recalled that last week, the leaders of the two countries at the Prime Minister’s Office agreed to deepen defense cooperation with a focus on strengthening security in the maritime sector, including cooperation in the development and use of maritime unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in conducting joint exercises and training related to unmanned maritime systems, as well as in enhanced information exchange on maritime threats.

In fact, Zakharova's attack took place at a time when Greek Minister of National Defense Nikos Dendias had returned from his trip to the United States where, among other things, he visited the facilities of the unmanned aircraft manufacturing company "Matternet", where he was given a tour by its CEO, Andreas Raftopoulos, and watched a demonstration of the multiple capabilities of unmanned aerial systems.

The Greek Foreign Minister's response

This specific development found For. Min. Giorgos Gerapetritis at the European Union Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, where Ukraine was also on the agenda of the discussions in the wake of the American plan for a ceasefire.

In fact, Mr. Gerapetritis said that we welcome the new proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine. "The EU and Greece have always been in favor of any effort to stop hostilities in order to open a window of peace. It goes without saying that any plan must be accepted by Ukraine. It is extremely important to support territorial integrity and stand against any form of revisionism," he concluded meaningfully.

However, Greece's unofficial response to Maria Zakharova's provocative statements was immediate.

"Greece in its international relations always acts based on adherence to International Law and respect for states. It is a self-evident right of every state to conclude interstate agreements.

Especially when agreements, such as the one between Greece and Ukraine, guarantee energy sufficiency and security, which is a condition for human well-being. Threats against sovereign states are automatically rejected," diplomatic sources reported.