Russia has formally asked to parade alongside Greek soldiers in the military parade on October 28, or OXI Day, which is traditionally held in Thessaloniki every year. According to reports, the contingent which made the request is from a group of marines from the Russian apobatic "Novotserkask" of the Black Sea Fleet, which consists of about 350 Marines, etc. It is actually the same contingent that marched alongside Greek soldiers in Limnos several weeks ago, and was received with great enthusiasm from the residents there.
The ship is scheduled to be near the northern Greek city between the 26 to 29 of October. Currently the Russians are waiting to see if their request will be accepted by the Greek State.
If the State allows them to join in on the festivities, and if they actually do march alongside Greek marines in next week's parade, it will have immense geopolitical importance for our country as well as send many messages to our (so-called) neighbor Turkey.
Interestingly, Russian marines, or Russian soldiers are very well liked in Greece. Another reason northern Greeks like the Russians -even though this is not related to the parade- is because the presidency of their prized team PAOK was taken over earlier this year by former Greek-Russian parliamentarian and businessman Ivan Savvides. From what it looks like he has taken the team to a whole different level and it is actually performing really well. (SOURCE: defencenet)
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