Immediately after the Greek party NIKI received 2.92% of the vote in the first elections on May 21, the Greek government is fiercely looking for the reasons for what happened. How is it so: a party unknown to the general democratic public, which opposes LGBTQ +, the Prespes Treaty, and also stands up for the preservation of the family and Orthodoxy, almost made it to parliament. Know the Russians are involved here …
Therefore, immediately after the success of the party, which was on the “threshold” of parliament with a very high probability of passing in the second elections on June 25, the money laundering department in Athens took over, which found a dossier in the archives regarding the transfer of Russian money to monasteries on Mount Athos.
The first reaction of media sources close to the case was to remark that the agency’s interest in laundering coincided with an attempt by the government to stop the influx of voters to small parties on the right side of the electoral spectrum, which draw strength from church organizations and monasteries. However, the situation began to develop according to a different scenario.
Philotheus Monastery is at the center of the investigation into Russian money transfers to Mount Athos. In a statement last week, the monastery said it was not affiliated with the Nika party and did not participate in the elections. On the eve of the trip, publications appeared that the Filofei Monastery supported the Nika movement, and the brother of the rector Nikodim was a candidate for deputies from this party. “It should also be noted that the Filofey Monastery is known for its pro-Russian relations, and Rector Nikodim maintains a personal relationship with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who visited the monastery twice in recent years, in 2020 and 2021,” the portal wrote. thetoc.gr
The Filofei Monastery, in a statement, denies that it supported the Nika party in any way in previous elections, but confirms that its abbot’s brother was a candidate. As the monastery said in a statement, “participation in the electoral process is the right of every Greek citizen.” Reports about Moscow’s “role” in the internal affairs of the Holy Monastery are also false, the monastery said. According to the abbot of the monastery, his brother participated in the voting for “Niki” (collected several crosses), and this in itself also does not mean anything. However, Mitsotakis took this information much more seriously.
The visit of Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Mount Athos, scheduled for Monday by the Holy Spirit, is seen in this vein (the visit was postponed on Friday afternoon, ostensibly due to the prime minister’s Covid19 illness). Jokes have already begun to circulate among the people that, they say, the Americans sent Mitsotakis to Athos, and he was so nervous that he fell ill. However, the former prime minister video posted on FBreferred to the fact that he hugged too much …
Last week, a document was retrieved from the archives of the Money Laundering Authority in Athens, which concerns the transfer of Russian money to monasteries on Mount Athos. The agency’s investigation concerns specific money transfers, some of which exceed 100,000 euros. The senders appear to be pious Russian and Greek expatriates with close ties to Moscow. At the same time, some of them are included in the list of individuals against whom the West imposed sanctions after the Russian intervention in Ukraine, since it was believed that they were acting as financiers on behalf of Russia.
The dossier was closed in the spring of 2021. It is not known(?!) why the current Chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering Office, Honorary Prosecutor Charalambos Vourliotis asked to reopen the case, but it is assumed that the decision to close the case was considered wrong by a call from the US Embassy.
The fact is that these transfers, in the form of donations to the monasteries on Mount Athos, were also extremely interested in the American authorities. According to the Greek publication Μagazine, at the beginning of the year a group of Americans (probably US intelligence officers) visited several Athos monasteries where pro-Russian sentiments are strong.
The Americans appeared in the monasteries for … “interviews”, gently but persistently asking the monks about the donations they receive from certain individuals and institutions, behind which the Russians allegedly stand. The monks replied that the charter of the Holy Mountain itself provided for the self-government of the monasteries, and they had nothing to hide. “We keep detailed ledgers. All the money in the monasteries is from donations, we have not taken a single euro from the taxes paid by the Greek taxpayers,” they say on Mount Athos every time the same question is raised.
In February last year, after the imposition of sanctions on Russia, the Greek bank, in which the Philotheos monastery holds an account, pressed the “red button”. The fact is that the correspondence between the bank and the monastery allegedly revealed 12 Russian money transfers – approximately in the amount of 50-100,000 euros each – sent by individuals, companies and institutions that were either on the sanctions list or were associated with persons from the same list.
The initial internal debate at the monastery was reported to be that these people “are pious people who make donations and fulfill vows” and that “we cannot overnight make enemies of these people.” However, the official point of view, which ultimately prevailed, was to completely obey the bank’s order and, therefore, refuse to accept money and donations from these accounts in the future.
It is obvious that the government, for pre-election and external reasons, will “force” events in the coming days.
The US is worried about NIKI’s entry into the Greek parliament. In the opinion of the Americans, the passage of “NIKI” to the parliament may lead to the fact that they will be able to be informed about the steps taken by NATO. Greek media already tied a visit CIA Director William Burns in Athens with the future participation of “Nika” in the work of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense of the House of Representatives, whose meetings are secret.
The Committee discusses all issues of arming the Greek armed forces, as well as cooperation with other NATO countries, training of Ukrainian military in Greece and military aid sent to Ukraine. The F-35 fighter program is also of great concern to the United States, since the agreement with all financial and technical details will go through the Committee on Armaments and Defense. Americans have not yet faced such a question. That is, in their opinion, a pro-Russian party of this magnitude in the Greek Parliament poses a huge danger to NATO.
The very next day after the election, the pro-government media launched an attack on NIKI.
Greek oligarch: shipowner, media mogul, and owner of the Olympiakos football club Vangelis Marinakis
Website in.gr Vangelis Marinakis, accused earlier of heroin smuggling, but by a strange coincidence, the circumstance of escaping punishment, published an article that was reprinted by many pro-government media. It calls the movement “Christian Taliban” and hints at its “connections with pro-Russian forces.”
“A party drawn from the dark underground of para-church organizations, monasteries, para-religious “movements” against abortion, vaccines and measures against the coronavirus. Anti-scientific statements that raise questions… Images that remind many of the Greek-Christian world that the junta wanted to build in 1967… More than 172,000 votes, which gave the party 2.9%, are already under investigation. Who is behind it and, above all, who finances it? How easy is it for a small party that did not exist until a few weeks ago to appear with offices and organizations all over Greece? We hear a lot about the Victory party. About close ties with para-religious organizations that are outside the field of vision of the official church. About connection with some monasteries of Mount Athos or even about close connection with the pro-Russian forces that are also inside Greece. It is also heard that some priests “determine the line” for believers to vote for “Victory”, because this is the only party close to the Christian faith. Christian Taliban claiming to be elected to parliament appear under the guise of a “good Christian” who is influenced by the values and ideals of the Greek Orthodox tradition. And where, they say, bulletins are distributed from church to church and from cell to cell.
The gloomy illustration to the article is apparently intended to show the proximity of the NIKI party to the “Christian Taliban”
“There are many who believe that in Northern Greece this hardline, nationalist, Christian front can take on the characteristics and dynamics of the Greek “Northern League” with what this could mean for the political system and democracy. The site writes that Nika’s candidates include “dangerous figures”, and their goals are “restarting the Greek economy, reviving the original principles and values of Greece.”
From such speeches, “real democrats” are horrified, which means that NIKI should be banned or declared enemies of the people.
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