MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Greece is skeptical about the European Union’s anti-Russian sanctions, Olga Gerovasili, a spokeswoman for the Greek government, told TASS on Monday.
"Greece strongly supports the idea of resuming relations between the European Union and Russia at all levels within the European Union," she said. "We supported it at the latest session of the Foreign Affairs Council on March 15 which discussed relations between the European Union and Russia. Greece is among the countries which are maintaining political relations with Russia."
"We have repeatedly expressed our doubts and skepticism about the efficiency of the sanctions and we support a moderate and well-balanced position," Gerovasili said. "We stand for mobility and contacts between nations, and this issue is to be settled technically. It is also necessary to avoid an impression that Russian citizens are the target of punishment."
"Russian counter measures have had negative impacts on sectors of the Greek economy, such as agriculture which needs support," she said. "The agricultural embargo has hurt traditional Greek exports to the Russia market. In 2013, or the last year before the Russian food ban, agricultural products accounted for about a third of Greece’s exports to Russia."
"At the latest session of the Russian-Greek commission [on economic, industrial and scientific technical cooperation - TASS], we agreed to develop cooperation in the agrarian sector. A corresponding joint working group is expected to meet in April," the Greek government spokeswoman said.
Apart from that, in her words, the tourism sector has seen a decline in the past two years. "We can enliven our cooperation in this sphere," she stressed.