Russia Decides To Translate Its Constitution into Greek! - Putin To Visit Mystras - Why?

In an unprecedented move, the Russian Federation decided to translate its Constitution into the Greek language! Is this just another move by Russia to get a foothold of the Greek market? No one knows, but certainly initiatives such as these are beyond a mere transnational relationship between two countries, and clearly show Moscow's willingness to further develop stronger relations with the Greek people.

The Greek version of the Russian Constitution is expected to be formerly published in January 2014.

The announcement was made at the 1st Hellenic-Russian Legal Conference which was recently held in Athens. The organizers of the conference noted that the initiative to translate the basic legal text into the Greek language was taken on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Russian Constitution.

The conference was held under the auspices of the Russian Embassy, ​​the Greek Ministry of Justice, etc. Citizens who attended the event were introduced to the Russian Constitution, the state structure of Russia, the system of the highest authorities of state power, as well as the judicial system.

At the conference, the president of the "Coordinating Council of Russian compatriots in Greece," Anna Kontratova stated:

     "Greece is one of the few countries in the world where Russians feel maximum comfort and never have problems of open discrimination, persecution and/or harassment."

On his part, Fyodor Ignatiadis, the editor of the "MK - Athens Courier" newspaper and the "Nasha Gretsya" (Our Greece) magazine, said that there were many Greek citizens that are interested in further strengthening financial, business, or simply cultural relations with Russia.

Some may argue that Moscow is taking initiatives that are far beyond the usual political approach that are commonly used by nations who want to strengthen their relations with other states. And to some degree this may be true, but then again the Greek people are very distinctive in character, and Russia has always stood by the side of the people. Nonetheless, the same same skeptics might say that Russia is exploiting historical and religious traditions to speak to the hearts of the Greek people.

Whatever the case, it is working! After the beating that Greece has received from global leaders, its allies, the EU, and even some of its own citizens, on issues that deal with the economy, energy, religion, history and even the possible shifting of borders, the only thing that speaks to the heart of a Greek nowadays is a voice that actually respects this country's values, history and long-standing traditions!

Since we are on the subject of history and Russia, an interesting bit of information was also featured on the defencenet news site recently about an upcoming visit by Russian President Vladamir Putin in Sparta. According to that report, during his visit, scheduled for the Spring 2014, Putin will venerate the tombs of past emperors of the Byzantine Empire at Mystras (let us not forget that Mystras was the nucleus of the thousand year old Byzantine Empire).

Also during his trip, Putin will endorse his own personal desire of creating an Orthodox Vatican on Mount Athos. These moves are obviously part of a larger framework that show that Moscow is indeed determined to proceed -with historical leverage- to strengthen its ties to Greece, much more than with the West and the EU.