Russia waits in wings as Greek crisis deepens

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin must be finding it hard to contain a wry smile as the European Union struggles with Greece’s debt problems.

Events are playing into his hands by diverting attention from the conflict in Ukraine and offering him a chance to exploit differences in the EU which might undermine unity on sanctions against Russia over Ukraine. Russia’s fragile economy would certainly not escape unscathed if Greece left the euro zone or the EU, and the crisis could serve as a worrying lesson for Moscow as it builds its own political and economic bloc with other former Soviet republics.

But Russia is now one of the few countries Athens might realistically turn to for money and state-run media are having a field day, depicting the EU as a discredited and dysfunctional empire in terminal decline. “I do think that they’re going to use Greece as a tool against Germany, as a tool against the European Union,” Yevgenia Albats, a prominent Russian commentator and editor of the independent New Times magazine, told Reuters.

“That’s exactly what the Soviets did, that’s exactly what the KGB did during the Cold War, when they were using countries and governments, especially poor ones, in their war with Western civilisation.” State media portray Greece’s crisis as just the start of the EU’s problems, suggesting Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy could be next if Greece left the euro-zone. “Grexit”, many loyal media outlets suggest, is now all but inevitable. News about the crisis on state-controlled news channel Russia-24 is accompanied by a graphic declaring: “Greece - almost over.” —Reuters