Greece Pushed Into Russian Arms

Russia could offer Greece cash and cut-price gas deal

As Greece’s Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, left Athens for Moscow today for talks on Wednesday with President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s Kommersant paper quoted an unnamed government source saying that Russia was “ready to consider the issue of a gas price discount for Greece”.

There were also reports that Moscow might offer Greece substantial loans in return for unspecified “assets” in the country, which is struggling to meet the EU’s and International Monetary Fund’s conditions for extensions to its current bailout.

The suggestion has angered members of Mr Tsipras’s Syriza party, who believe Greece should be able to pursue its own course in relations with Russia, without EU interference. One leading Syriza MP, Yannis Balafas, told The Independent: “Our membership of the eurozone doesn’t conflict with our bilateral ties with [Russia].

My view:

The Euro currency project is close to an inflection point.  These next few months will be interesting to see what deals/concessions are made to Greece to keep the fragile monetary union going. 

When one considers that Greek debt is simply unpayable as it has reached absurdly high levels, it seems that logic will eventually prevail.  That is that what can not be repaid will not be repaid. Default is looming.