Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to pay a special visit to Athens on October 26. The reason for his visit is that Greece will hold the presidency of the Council of Europe until November, an international organization in which Russia also participates.
The warming of Athens-Moscow relations is an expressed goal of Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias from his first day of taking office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Such a visit, at a time of deep crisis in Greek-Turkish relations, is crucial for Athens, because, among other things, Moscow is perhaps the only interlocutor who seems to have any influence in Ankara.
Meanwhile, yesterday, the embassy of the Russian Federation in Athens, with a post on Twitter, referred to the possibility that Greece has under international law the right to extend the territorial waters from 6 to 12 nautical miles, as reported by Greek City Times.
“Russia’s position as a permanent member of the UN Security Council is the starting point. We consider the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea the ‘cornerstone’ of international maritime agreements,” the Russian Embassy said in a tweet.
This tweet was then followed up with a second one that said:
“The Convention explicitly provides for the sovereign right of all States to have territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles and sets out the principles and methods for delimiting the [Exclusive Economic Zone]. This also applies to the Mediterranean.”
Although Russia initially took the position of sympathizing with Turkish claims, it is likely the position has drastically changed after Turkey sent Syrian mercenary jihadists to Russia’s doorstep in the Caucasus and launching a war against Armenia.