Following Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' visit to Moscow, there is fresh talk of a potential alliance between Russia and Greece against Europe. Alongside the two countries' religious affinity and shared anti-Western ideology, Greek commitments to host future Russian pipelines, and Russia's readiness to provide financial support (strengthening Athens' position ahead of negotiations with the IMF) have laid the emotional and economic foundations for this alliance. The roadmap outlining the extension of the Turkish Stream oil pipeline to Greece, signed on 21 April in Athens by Gazprom chief Aleksei Miller and Alexis Tsipras, is yet another plank in this alliance.
Indeed, it looks like nothing can shake this newfound bond. But that is to reckon without Aleksandra Protsenko, 67, a retired secondary school headmaster from rural south-eastern Ukraine and president of the Greek community of Mariupol. An increasingly influential figure in Greek and Ukrainian politics, Protsenko's position regarding separatist aggression near the Azov coast, home to some 100,000 Ukrainian Greeks, could become a stumbling block to renewed Greek-Russian co-operation. With violence against Ukraine's Greeks featuring prominently in the Greek press as potential justification for closer ties with Russia, mission creep near Mariupol takes on fresh significance.
Russia's operation in Donbas
Russia's policy in south-eastern Ukraine is far from a coherent expansion strategy. In fact, it has two different components.
