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cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/846586
Greece’s concern for its own security has made it a supporter of Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion. The country’s early support for Ukraine caused the Russian embassy in Athens to call on “very senior politicians” to “come to their senses” and “stop anti-Russian propaganda”.
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zacharova called Greece’s decision to send weapons to Ukraine “deeply mistaken” and “criminal”, warning that “in the end, the weapons will be turned on civilians, including the Greeks,” a reference to 150,000 ethnic Greek Ukrainians who then lived mainly in the besieged towns of Mariupol and Odesa.
According to Dianeosis, an Athens-based think tank, about 70 percent of Greeks had a favourable view of Russia before the full-blown war in Ukraine. That fell to 50 percent after the 2022 invasion and to 30 percent last year.
Good on the Greeks. I’m surprised they don’t already have a closer bond with Ukraine, since much of it was Greek for a long time. Some traces are still apparent thousands of years later, like “Kherson” which comes from chersonesos, “peninsula” (which the Greeks used to refer to Crimea)
Greek nationalism was made possible by the Russian victory over the Ottomans in the 1770s, which gave breathing space to the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire. The conspiracy that led to the Greek Revolution started in the Russian empire. Later, Russia was one of the three Powers (along with Britain and France) to force the Ottomans to grant independence to Greece at the end of the War of Independence. The Greek George Washington (with a tragically different end than GW) was Ioannis Kapodistrias, a former minister of the Czar. For half a century following independence, there were three political parties: the English party, the French party and the Russian party (liberal-monarchist, liberal-republican, conservative). In all party systems following that, a pro-russian faction has always existed. During the 1960-1980s this also coincided with the progressive sections of the political spectrum (the pro-US faction was a far right military dictatorship that killed and tortured people). Throughout this, the religious connection has always been extremely strong, despite the recent scuffles between the Patriarchs.
In other words, there is a very, very deep connection between Russia in Greece.
I didn’t know that, thanks for sharing! Antiquity is more of my thing but I need to broaden my horizons.