



Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias sent a joint message to Ankara on Wednesday following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent statements rejecting the Lausanne Treaty.

Lavrov stated that Turkey is obliged to respect international law. Kotzias noted that Greek boundaries in the past had reached India, however that bore no relation to real borders today that need to be respected. “History needs to be a school, and not a jail,” he said, adding that there needs to be a dialogue between the West and Russia despite problems to bilateral relations.

During their joint meeting, Lavrov sent out his appreciation to NATO member Greece’s position regarding the decision of the West to impose retaliatory sanctions following the annexation of Crimea. “We appreciate Greece’s disagreement with the policy of sanctions and its wish for further dialogue on the Ukrainian crisis,” said Lavrov in a statement following the meeting. He acknowledged Greece’s support despite EU sanctions and predicted that there would be more Russians picking Greece as a tourism destination over the coming years.

Earlier, Lavrov had met with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and President Prokopis Pavlopoulos as part of a friendship initiative between the two Orthodox nations that included multiple cultural exchanges. In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin had visited Greece.



