Athens Grateful to Moscow for Providing Documents on German Occupation

Athens are thankful to Russian government for providing Greece with access to archive materials that might help the country in receiving WWII reparations from Germany, Greek Deputy Defense Minister Kostas Isihos told Sputnik Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In March, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Germany must compensate Greece approximately $236 billion for damages caused by its occupation of the country during World War II. The German government initially rejected Greece's claims, but President Joachim Gauck said that Berlin is likely to consider repayment earlier in May.

During his visit to Russia in March, Isihos, who is also a co-chair of the Russian-Greek Joint Interministerial Commission had a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, and made an official request asking Moscow to provide Athens with archive documents on German occupation that might be able to aid Greece in receiving reparations from Berlin.

"I would take this opportunity to thank the Russian government for its very quick response to the very kind [inquiry] I made during my last visit to Moscow," Isihos said.

The Greek deputy defense minister added that he and Russian Ambassador to Greece Andrey Maslov are planning to visit the National Greek Archives next week.

Isihos said that the archive materials Greece has had since 2006 and the new documents that are to be translated and evaluated by the Russian side will contribute to finding a solution to the reparation issue.

"It would contribute to a stronger legal base of our demands and petitions towards the German government, something that the German government has to look at very seriously… The Russian government has contributed very-very strongly and we thank them once again."