Russia is considering soon giving Greece funds based on future profits Athens would earn from shipping Russian gas to Europe as part of an extension of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, a Greek government official said yesterday.

Plans for the pipeline taking Russian gas from Turkey to Europe via Greece would be linked to lower Russian gas prices, the official added. Greece would pay back the Russian prepayment after the pipeline started operating, the official said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed various issues with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras yesterday.

The leftist-led Greek government, at loggerheads with its euro zone and International Monetary Fund creditors, risks running out of money within weeks unless it can reach a new cash-for-reform deal.

“The Greek side has not addressed us with any requests for aid,” Putin told a joint news conference after Kremlin talks. “We discussed cooperation in various sectors of the economy, including the possibility of developing major energy projects.”

Tsipras added: “Greece is not a beggar going around to countries asking them to solve its economic problem, an economic crisis that doesn’t only concern Greece but is a European crisis.”On a maiden visit to Moscow that caused unease among some EU partners, Tsipras mostly heeded warnings from Brussels and Berlin not to break ranks with European Union economic sanctions imposed on Russia over its role in destabilising Ukraine. He told the news conference that Greek exports had been hurt by Russian counter-measures he called understandable, and said he had made clear to his EU peers that he disagreed with the rationale for “economic warfare”.

Responding indirectly to a warning from European Parliament President Martin Schulz, Tsipras said: “Greece is a sovereign country with an unquestionable right to implement a multi-dimensional foreign policy and exploit its geopolitical role.”

Putin said he understood that Greece, which has historical and cultural ties to Russia, had been forced to go along with the policy and disavowed any attempt to use Athens’ debt woes to drive a wedge among EU nations.

“I want to assure you that we do not aim to use any internal European Union situations to improve ties with the European bloc as a whole. We want to work with the whole of united Europe,” the Russian leader said. In a goodwill gesture, Russia’s Economics Ministry said it had prepared proposals to ease a retaliatory ban on Western food products.

Putin said Moscow could provide credits for joint projects with Greece in the future, possibly including the planned Turkish Stream pipeline to carry Russian gas to Europe via Turkey, in which Tsipras voiced interest.

Putin said Russia would be interested in taking part in privatisation tenders if Greece held any, touching a raw nerve since Tsipras’ government is split over the sale of state assets which its predecessors began as part of the country’s bailout programme.

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