The Greek government has rejected claims that Alexis Tsipras may have asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for assistance in order to print a Greek currency around the time of the July 2015 referendum.
The explosive claims were made in a recently published book on French President Francois Hollande,
where he allegedly mentioned that Putin had told him that “Greece asked us to print drachmas in Russia because they do not have such a press.”
Government sources said that although both Putin and Tsipras had me, at no time were such issues raised by the Greek prime minister, on the contrary, it was commonly agreed that the only realistic path was for Greece to remain in the Eurozone.
The Hollande claims follow clarifications to the Greek media about Wikilieaks revelations posted on October 7 noting that Tsipras contacted former U.S. president Bill Clinton before Greece’s July 2015 referendum on bailouts but spoke only to U.S. President Barack Obama afterward. The leaked Podesta e-mails revealed that Obama’s office had reached out to Bill Clinton via John Podesta, Clinton’s former chief of staff, asking whether he might be able to persuade Tsipras to sign a bailout deal.
Podesta, who currently heads the Hillary Clinton campaign, is shown contacting Clinton’s office to ask whether the former president, referred to as WJC for Willian Jefferson Clinton, was willing and able to step in.
“I’m on a train and hard to talk by phone. White House asked me whether WJC had enough of a relationship with PM Tsipras to call him and counsel him to make a deal. Can you ask him whether that’s in the realm of possibility. If yes, I can talk to him after I’m off the train and explain their thinking and what they are hoping to accomplish. Thanks.”
Clinton was initially open to the idea but requested additional information, including whether the same pressures would be applied to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
