(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Russia and Greece agreed yesterday to sign a preliminary agreement to build a gas pipeline, with the two countries coming together amid a raging debt crisis in Athens and new Western actions against Moscow.
President Vladimir Putin was set to meet Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras later Friday on the sidelines of an investment forum overshadowed by Russia's economic crisis and standoff with the West.
Tsipras is among the few guests of honour at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, and the two leaders are scheduled to discuss the debt crisis in Greece, which could default on looming loan payments and possibly leave the eurozone.
In the run-up to the forum, Putin's aides refused to say whether Russia would consider bailing out Greece, which has publicly criticised Western sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
In a sign of increased cooperation between the two countries, meanwhile, Russia and Greece earlier Friday signed a preliminary deal to set up a joint venture building a pipeline through Greece. "This is the start of a large investment project in Greece that is beneficial to the country's economy," Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said at the signing ceremony.
He estimated the cost of building the Greek link at around two billion euros, adding that the total volume of gas pumped will be 47 billion cubic metres. The two countries will jointly own the venture, ministry spokeswoman Olga Golant said. Russia had previously proposed footing the bill for building a Greek pipeline extension of the Russia-Turkish TurkStream project, which aims to deliver gas to Europe while bypassing Ukraine.
Moscow announced the creation of the TurkStream programme last year after it cancelled its South Stream gas pipeline to southeastern Europe-which was already under construction-as relations with the European Union reached a nadir over Russia's role in Ukraine.
Instead Moscow announced the pipeline to Turkey, which should be operational in December 2016, and told European nations they would need to build their own links to access the gas.
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