Russian Ambassador to Greece: “Our communication with the Greek side is limited to episodic contacts"

Andrey Maslov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Greece, said that the resumption of full-fledged bilateral cooperation with Greece is not expected:

“We proceed from the fact that the resumption of bilateral cooperation in the short term should not be expected.”

About this diplomat writes GreekReporter, spoke on the TV channel “Russia-24”, answering a question about the mood in Greece towards Russia. He stressed that the state of bilateral relations since their destruction at the initiative of Athens, after the start of a special military operation, “has not changed”:

“Our communication with the Greek side is limited to episodic contacts through the foreign affairs agencies and mainly affects the technical issues of the functioning of diplomatic missions – Russian in Greece and Greek in Russia.”

According to Maslov, the Greek side is not making any attempts to restore official ties, and with regard to Russia, the Greek leadership “strictly follows the common line of the European Union.”

The RIA Novosti agency, referring to the words of the diplomat, writes that last year, as a result of sanctions, there were significant obstacles to the entry of Russian tourists to Greece. There were 20-30 thousand people, “nothing at all.” The Russian ambassador noted that the lack of direct flights, a sharp rise in airfare and the need to travel by “circumferential” routes have become obstacles to the entry of Russians.

He stressed that the Greek authorities have been saying since last year that the absence of Russian tourists will not seriously affect the Greek economy. However, “the absence of hundreds of thousands of Russians in traditional destinations, in particular, on the islands of Rhodes, Crete, the Halkidiki Peninsula, was painfully felt by hotel chains and local entrepreneurs … Of course, the absence of Russians is strongly felt.”

Previously, our publication talked about the cases in which visa problems Russians don’t go to Greece. According to the website of the embassy in Moscow, tourists can apply for a Schengen visa through the Global Visa Center World visa centers or through the online system of the Consulate General. You must pay a fee upon submission. According to the head of TEZ TOUR Greece Dimitris Charitidis, diplomats most often issue visas for travel dates or for a month. The application is considered within 7-10 days. The package of documents is standard. It may take longer to study documents, but in practice this is rare.

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