Russia: Putin touts expansion of trade with Greece

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras held a joint press conference in Moscow, Wednesday, after both leaders signed a cooperation agreement for 2015-2016. During the press conference, Putin stated his hopes that the new cooperation agreement, along with the Russian-Greek intergovernmental commission that has been established, would help to increase growth in trade between both countries. The Russian president blamed the recent decrease in trade with Greece on "anti-Russian sanctions" and "the decline of prices of energy resources." Talking about the future, Putin stated that through the Turkish Stream pipeline project, Greece has the potential to become "one of the key energy distribution centres on the European continent."