Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos made the following statement yesterday following the emergency EU Foreign Affairs Council on the developments in Ukraine:

"The European response to the Ukraine issue is based on international law and on the need to safeguard stability and peace. Of course, the sanctions are a message conveying our resolve. But at the same time, the content of the sanctions is such that the political and diplomatic dialogue with Russia is kept open at the highest levels. (…)

We want to see Ukraine saved from economic disaster. But at the same time we want to find a political solution on Crimea that is acceptable to everyone, and we want to keep the crisis from spreading and to safeguard peace on the European continent."

See also: Greek News Agenda: Venizelos @ Extraordinary FAC on Ukraine

Venizelos also discussed the energy repercussions of the Ukraine crisis with Energy Commissioner Guther Oettinger in Brussels. In that regard, he noted Greece’s pivotal role, due mainly to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline and its branches, but also due to the potential Greece has and can develop at its liquefied natural gas terminal at Revithoussa, in combination with the discussions that took place this year in Budapest regarding the Aegean-Baltic Central Corridor, which can also function as a reverse-flow pipeline.