"Russia to allow Greece to bypass food import ban"

"Russia to allow Greece to bypass food import ban"

The plan to bypass the Russian embargo was revealed on Thursday by "a source from the Greek government," as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ends his two-day visit to Moscow.

"There is a common desire to begin the process of creating a joint Greek-Russian business society in the territory of Russia for export of Greek agricultural products," the source said in a written document, the Beta agency reported.

Such an entity would mean that Greek food products sold in Russia "would not be considered to be imports." This would allow the Greek agriculture to overcome a major obstacle - the embargo that Russia introduced last summer "in response to EU sanctions because of its involvement in the Ukrainian war."

Tsipras met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also mentioned the possibility that Russia could financially support the construction of a gas pipeline through northern Greece, said the source.

Russia could allow Greece to collect revenues from this project that it would pay starting in 2019, when the pipeline becomes operational. This would provide Greece with "thousands of millions" of euros, Beta quoted the source.

Exports of agricultural products and energy were the main topics of the meeting between Putin and Tsipras.

During a news conference Putin said that Russia "cannot make an exception for only one country of the European Union" when it comes to the ban on food imports.

But Putin mentioned the creation of "joint companies" to import peaches, strawberries, kiwis and lemons from Greece.

After Russia suddenly scrapped the South Stream project, it turned to building a pipeline to Turkey, which would replace Ukraine as the transit country for Russian gas.

The planned pipeline would end on the border of Turkey and Greece, and Tsipras' government wants it extended in order to make his country "an important distribution hub for natural gas," the source said.