EUROPE INTHE CROSSHAIRS

Abstract

(By Polina Khimshiashvili. RBC Daily, May 30, 2016, p. 2. Condensed text:) [Russian President] Vladimir Putin visited a European Union country for the first time since November 2015. While in Greece, he saw tourism potential. But [from his Athens press conference] he warned that if NATO’s missile defense shield expands, they will find themselves the targets of Russian missiles. ... was Vladimir Putin’s first visit to Greece since 2007. Despite the long hiatus, relations between Moscow and Athens remained strong. In the wake of Russia’s annexation of the Crimea [see Current Digest, Vol. 66, No. 12, pp. 3 - 11 ]and the start of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Greece has remained one of Moscow’s main EU partners (Greece has been a member of the EU since 1981, and of NATO since 1952). Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited Russia twice in 2015:He came to the Kremlin in April [see Current Digest, Vol. 67, No. 15, pp. 17 - 18 ], and attended the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June. In January 2016, Putin and Greek President [Prokopis] Pavlopoulos opened the Year of Greece in Russia and vice versa. ... On Friday [May 27] in Athens, Tsipras told the Russian president that [Greece] made a strategic choice in favor of strengthening ties with Russia, since weshare historically close religious and spiritual bonds.However, these close spiritual bonds are not reflected on the economic level, both leaders admitted. Trade turnover has been falling since 2013. In 2014, it amounted to $4.17 billion, a drop of 39% from the previous year. In 2015, trade turnover fell by another 34%, coming in at $2.7 billion, Putin said during a joint press conference. ... Russian presidential aide YuryUshakov said the decline in trade was due to [Western] sanctions and currency fluctuations in both countries. During a briefing in Moscow on Wednesday, he said that Russia is not going to lift the food embargo [it introduced in response to Western sanctions] for certain EU countries. Finally, Tsipras acknowledged during a press conference that his country is interested in supplying agricultural products to Russia, but that this could be done by establishing joint enterprises.. . . ... Presidential aide YuryUshakov said that the politicians touched on issues of bilateral cooperation during the talks. According to Ushakov, the talks did not include the issue of missile defense, with which Putin started the press conference. But it is this issue that drew the Russian leader’s harshest rhetoric. ... Responding to a question on how security-related issues affect economic cooperation in Europe, Putin stated that deployingUS missile defense components in Romania would negatively impact this aspect. will be forced to take the necessary steps. And while yesterday parts of Romania had no idea what it meant to be in the crosshairs, today we will have to take certain steps to ensure ... our security.*** The same thing applies to Poland, Putin warned. ... He said that Russia has been repeating this like a mantra since the early 2000s, but that still no one listens to us. The whole world has seen our capabilities, and the capabilities of our medium-range ground- and sea-launched missiles. We are not violating [any treaties], but the ground-based Iskander [missile] complexes with a range of up to 500 kilometers have also proven themselves, the Russian president said in reference to possible countermeasures. ... In response to Putin’s threats, Polish Foreign Minister WitoldWaszczykowski issued the standard statement that Russia is not under threat: This system is to defend Europe against a missile attack from the Middle East. He stressed that the military presence of the US and NATO forces is a response to very aggressive behavior and threats from the Russian authorities. ... Putin also spoke harshly about energy projects with the EU. We need preliminary guarantees, not just conversations about how this is of great mutual interest - we alreadyfell for that once, and we’re not spending money on these [empty promises] anymore, he said in outlining the prerequisites necessary for future energy projects.He recalled the fate of South Stream, which Moscow scrapped after failing to get the go-ahead from the European Commission, even though work on [the pipeline] had already begun [see Current Digest, Vol. 66, No. 49, pp. 8 - 10]. ... Commenting on Putin’s statements regarding missile defense, energy projects and Ukraine, Tsipras repeatedly stressed his country’s readiness to serve as a bridge between Russia and the EU. Our role is, naturally***to help smooth the differences in order to find a foundation for rapprochement between the EU and Russia, Tsipras said in response to a question about how Greece intends to vote on the issue of extending the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions. ... Putin assured everyone that sanctions were not discussed during the talks, and that Moscow is not expecting miracles from Greece.