The representatives of the SYRIZA party, including new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, seem friendlier toward Russia's leadership, as are Greeks in general. More than one in three Greeks (35%) in 2014 approved of Russia's leadership, while fewer than one in four (23%) approved of the EU's leadership, reports Gallup.
The already fragile Greek economy suffered a massive blow last year when Russia banned EU food imports in reaction to Western sanctions. Greek agricultural exports to Russia make up 41% of all Greek exports to Russia, worth approximately 200 million euros annually.
Those Greeks who saw their economy worsening, were twice as likely to approve of Russia's leadership (37%) versus that of the EU's leadership (18%). Russia's leadership also fared better than Germany's leadership (26%) by more than 10 percentage points.
The newly elected government led by the left-wing Syriza party came to power promising to pull Greece out of economic depression, reports Gallup.
Hence, Greece is reluctant to join its fellow EU members and hold a tough stand against Russia at the risk of worsening its own economy. In fact, Greek Energy Minister
Panagiotis Lafazanis has said Athens was against sanctions and "had no differences with Russia."
But despite the initial strong stance denouncing sanctions, Greece joined other EU countries Thursday in extending sanctions against Russia for another six months and in increasing the list of sanctioned individuals.
