Crisis-hit Greek PM pledges deeper ties with Russia

(MOSCOW) - Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, whose country is fighting an unprecedented debt crisis, pledged on Tuesday to deepen his country's ties with Russia as he met Russian leaders in Moscow.

"Rest assured that our goal will be to further deepen our relations," Papandreou said at the start of the talks with President Dmitry Medvedev.

Trade and economic cooperation was expected to top the meeting's agenda, the Kremlin said in a statement ahead of the talks without giving further details.

Also discussed would be Russia's planned South Stream pipeline that would ship Russian gas to Europe through the Balkans, avoiding its neighbour Ukraine. Papandreou was also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin later Tuesday.

Greece's ballooning public deficit has seen its total debt shoot up to about 300 billion euros (408 million dollars), or 113 percent of GDP, nearly double the 60 percent eurozone limit.

It was not immediately clear whether or not Papandreou would be raising Greece's financial situation in his talks with Medvedev or Putin.

In 2008, Russia offered a 500-million-dollar loan to Iceland to help it out of its deep economic crisis but the promise was withdrawn amid an increasingly tight budget situation in Moscow.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Greece had not asked Russia for the financial support and Russia also had no plans to raise the subject.

"But if the Greek colleagues raise the issue, we will discuss it," Peskov told AFP.

In an interview with the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS in Athens, the Greek premier said ahead of the visit his country would offer to promote the South Stream, one of Putin's pet projects, within Europe.

"With an aim of promoting the construction of the pipeline, Greece will turn to European bodies together with other European countries through which the pipeline will run so that it becomes part of the trans-European network," Papandreou was quoted as saying.

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