Greece’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, proudly proclaimed that the purpose of the sanctions against Russia is to overthrow the government of Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin. “The sanctions … are dedicated in order to bring down the Putin regime by internal unrest — and this is the idea that we create,” he said, adding they create “a climate into Russia that this act of aggression is going to be costly for the economy of Russia, and to build up the unrest and the opposition to Putin,” Varvitsiotis told the U.S. publication, The Hill.
Varvitsiotis, according to The Hill, gave warm praise to President Biden “for corralling democracies to impose coordinated sanctions,” but also called for Turkey to be sanctioned for not joining in with the sanctions against Russia. His statement raised eyebrows to say the least, The Hill pointing out that it contradicted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s repeated line that the sanctions were not aimed at regime change. This raised questions as to whether Varvitsiotis was being overly enthusiastic, or just telling the truth about what is being said behind closed doors. https://thehill.com/policy/international/599257-sanctions-aimed-at-regime-change-in-russia-says-greek-diplomat
In Greece the leading opposition party, SYRIZA, which supported sanctions based on the idea that they was not aimed at regime change, attacked Varvitsiotis for his statement, and attacked Greek Prime Minister Kiriakos Mitsotakis’s government’s policy of sending weapons to Ukraine.
SYRIZA’s chief foreign policy spokesman, George Katrougalos, said, “It is one thing to stand against the Russian invasion with strong sanctions, in order to end it; it is another for Mr. Mitsotakis to involve Greece directly in the war, sending war material and announcing that Alexandroupolis is at the forefront of operations. And another, even more dangerous than all, that Mr. Mitsotakis speaks through his Minister in American media about sanctions aimed at overthrowing the Government in Russia, in fact even in contrast to the statements of the USA (Blinken) which clarify that.”
