Putin congratulates Greek leftist leader Tsipras on win
January 26, 2015, 9:54 am

People react as they watch the exit poll results at the election kiosk of Left SYRIZA party in Athens, Greece, Jan. 25, 2015 [Xinhua]

Tsipras won 149 seats in the 300-seat Greek parliament, just two short of an absolute majority.

A Kremlin statement on Monday said Putin has expressed confidence that Russian and Greece will continue to develop traditional constructive cooperation between two countries in all spheres and will work together on resolving recent European crises.

Syriza will become the first anti-austerity party to take power in Europe.

“Greece leaves behind catastrophic austerity, it leaves behind fear and authoritarianism, it leaves behind five years of humiliation and suffering,” Tsipras said at a victory rally in Athens on Sunday.

Greece’s bailout deal with the euro zone due is due to end on Feb. 28.

Russia may lift its ban on food imports from Greece in the event it quits the European Union, Russian Minister of Agriculture Nikolai Fyodorov said earlier this month.

Moscow’s decision to shift the transit of gas through Ukraine to Turkey is fair and will prove beneficial for Greece, a Syriza Party official said weeks ago.

Athanasios Petrakos was quoted by Russian media as saying the decision creates “a new geopolitical situation.”

“The 50 billion cubic meters of gas per year, that will be accumulated in Turkey’s border with Greece are a great opportunity for Greece to upgrade its geopolitical role”, Petrakos elaborated.

Petrakos, who is in charge of Syriza party’s energy policy, underlined: “The new government of Syriza, after 25th January [parliamentary elections in Greece] will help to upgrade the energy role of Greece and is ready to discuss the splitting of the Hub between Turkey and Greece.”

According to Petrakos, with the creation of the dual hub, Greece will become an important factor in supplying Europe with Russian gas.

TBP and Agencies