How much clout does the Kremlin have in Greece?
In the last week Greece has expelled two Russian diplomats who allegedly used bribes in a bid to escalate protests against the compromise in the name dispute with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom). Commentators demand less naivety in Athens' dealings with Moscow and more transparency vis-à-vis its own citizens.
Government should stop diversion tactics
Athens must now show its cards, To Vima demands:
“The Greek government continually attempts to play down the incident and shies away from explaining what exactly happened. ... In a crisis with an important global power, the people have the right to know exactly what went on. ... The foreign ministry can no longer remain silent, and the government's spokesperson cannot keep getting away with spouting generalisations about defending national interests and multidimensional foreign policy. This problem is not suited to political small-mindedness or to the government's usual diversionary tactics for domestic consumption.”
Athens must no longer be a Trojan horse
Rzeczpospolita hopes that Athens will adopt a more critical stance vis-à-vis Moscow now:
“Greece, which a European think tank described a decade ago as the 'Kremlin's Trojan horse in the EU', couldn't bring itself to expel Russian diplomats in protest at the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in the UK, as other European countries had done. Hopefully Greece's time as a Trojan horse is over. Freed of its blinkers the country has now hopefully realised that this is not just about Troy but about Athens too.”