Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was forceful in a speech to the US Congress this May. He assured that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, threatens to create a world in which "territorial claims are made from historical fantasies and imposed by aggression." And he insisted: "You must not win, not only for the good of Ukraine, but also to send a message to all authoritarian leaders that historical revisionism and aggression that violates international law will not be tolerated by the international community."
From the beginning of the conflict, Athens did not hesitate to take sides with Ukraine. Greece, ruled by Mitsotakis's right-wing New Democracy, was among the first European countries to announce that it would send arms to Kyiv. They did so after Russian airstrikes killed at least 10 members of the Greek minority in Ukraine. They sent humanitarian aid, expelled Russian diplomats and welcomed refugees. This week, Germany and Greece have reached an agreement to send more war tanks to Ukraine.
But they have not been easy decisions. Greece has traditionally been a bridge of Russian influence in Europe. And this weighs heavily on the polls: a poll from early May shows that 53% of citizens support sanctions against Russia, compared to the European average of 80%. Only 40% of Greeks were in favor of financing arms purchases, compared to 67% of Europeans. Another poll, just after the invasion, showed that 20% of Greeks felt closer to the Russian position, while 45% of them supported Ukraine.
“There is a sympathy towards Russia, especially in the lower classes, which is related to anti-Western sentiment. To begin with, because of the idea that the Russians are a friendly people of the Greek nation by being Orthodox, unlike the United Kingdom, Germany or the USA, which are not Orthodox and in the past intervened in different situations in the country,” explains Nikos Marantzidis, professor of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies at the University of Macedonia.
Centuries of religious, cultural and economic ties count in a country where there are still many who see Russia as the protector of the Orthodox against the Turkish rival. In fact, it is remembered that in 1827 Russia supported France and the United Kingdom in the naval battle of Navarino, which decided the independence of Greece from the Ottoman Empire. Even some ultranationalists dream that at some point Moscow will help them relaunch a new Byzantine empire and retake Constantinople.
Another part of the electorate, mainly from the left, has anti-American sentiments derived from the complicity of the US with the Junta de los Colonels, says Marantzidis. Furthermore, he points out, the bombing of Orthodox Serbs during the Kosovo war is very recent. "In that period 90% of Greeks were against NATO and for Serbia." The anti-Western resentment continues to beat after almost a decade of austerity imposed by the EU after the great financial crisis. Another reason why the United States does not like it in the country is the Cypriot question. And the thousands of Russians who spend the summer in the Aegean waters each year are a boon to the Greek tourism industry.
On a political level, there have also been flirtations between the Greek exponents and Russia. Mitsotakis himself, when he was leader of the opposition, traveled to Moscow in 2019 to underline a "relationship of trust" between New Democracy and Putin's party. According to Constantinos Filis, director of the Institute of Global Affairs at the American College of Greece, pro-Russian politicians abound in some sectors of the nationalist extreme right. Greece will return to the polls next year. "Moscow will perhaps try to influence the next elections by financing one or two of these parties, because they see that Greece is not only a member of the EU and NATO, but also the most important power in the region, with the exception of Turkey," he warns.
