Greece Hopes to Increase Global Influence Through BRICS Ties

Deepening ties with BRICS could allow Greece to have one of the leading mediating roles within the crises in the region, Greek Deputy Defense Minister Kostas Isihos told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anna Liatsou — Greece reckons that better relations with Russia and other members of the BRICS alliance will help it play a bigger role in international affairs, the country's Deputy Defense Minister Kostas Isihos told Sputnik in an interview.

BRICS comprises five of the world's biggest developing economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Deepening ties with BRICS could allow Greece to "have one of the leading mediating roles within the crises around Greece," including the conflict in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East, Isihos said.

"We do have an important role to play within a multipolar world which must be viewed as a multipolar world of stability and not of instability," the defense official said.

The leftist Syriza party, after coming to power in Greece earlier this year, has good relations with all BRICS governments and is willing to expand cooperation with the bloc, he noted.

Isihos' comments echoed the words of Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias who stressed in an interview with Sputnik earlier in March that Greece has always had deep contacts with BRICS member states, especially India, China and Russia.

Syriza came to power in Greece in January on the wave of Euroscepticism. The party has repeatedly lamented that Brussels regards Athens only through a debtor-creditor perspective.

Earlier in March, Russia ratified a deal establishing the BRICS New Development Bank with the stated capital of $100 billion. The institution, established as an alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, is designed to prompt the development of financial cooperation between the five member countries.