Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Russia

The Izvestiya daily earlier reported that Krutov from A Just Russia party has submitted a request to the Russian President Vladimir Putin to reconsider Russian counter-sanctions against Greece. The MP said "Greece is Russia's reliable partner" and that it is "close to Russia not only economically, put also spiritually - this is one of very few Orthodox countries in Europe."

Commenting on the situation, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) faction's deputy head Alexey Didenko said: "This is an inconsistent and emotional proposal. There is no logic in it on Russia's position toward EU, since Greece was a member of the European Union and remains its part, despite all referendums." Thus, Krutov's proposal was "traitorous", he continued. "Deputy Krutov should make it clear who he is siding with. [He made] an unbalanced and untimely proposal," Didenko added.

Civic Chamber member Sergey Markov shares this point of view. "Krutov's proposal undermines our system of counter-sanctions. A question arises on whether Krutov is a foreign agent and serves interests of someone else," Markov said. "It would be strange if we cancelled our counter-sanctions against Greece, which participates in EU's sanctions regime against Russia. Greece could just recently veto extending sanctions against Russia, but the Greek government did nothing," he concluded.