ATHENS – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be meeting with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin at 12:00 (Athens time) on Wednesday.

The meeting will take place in Sochi and will be followed by press statements.

In his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Wednesday, Prime Minister Kyriakos MItsotakis’ goal is to restore greater warmth to Greek-Russian relations, Alternate Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said in an interview on SKAI radio on Tuesday.

Varvitsiotis noted that Mitsotakis was one of the few European leaders that Putin is to receive at Sochi, while he also pointed out his own visit to Moscow last week at the head of a Greek government delegation, which signed a Cooperation Protocol and a series of agreements for deepening economic cooperation between Russia and Greece.

“We hope Wednesday’s meeting will signal this rapprochement, which does not, however, change the key features of Greek foreign policy, namely our participation in the EU and NATO”.

Referring to the energy sector, he said that Russia is a reliable and also the most important supplier of natural gas to Greece. “What we want, first of all, is this gas supply to continue unhindered and, secondly, its supply at lower prices,” Varvitsiotis added.