Energy Minister Panayiotis Lafazanis met his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak and Alexei Miller, the Chief Executive of energy giant Gazprom on Monday (30.03) in Moscow, ahead of a visit to the Russian capital by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on April 8. Lafazanis said Greece wanted to upgrade its energy relations with Russia and favoured extending a "Turkish Stream" gas pipeline to its territory.

The two officials further discussed a reduction in the price of natural gas that Greece imports from Russia and lifting the Russian embargo on Greek products.

Back in Athens, at a press conference on Tuesday (31.03), Lafazanis said Greece wanted to upgrade its energy relations with Russia and favoured extending the so-called Turkish Stream gas pipeline to its territory. He added that major Russian firms would participate in the tender process for deep-sea oil and gas exploration.

In related news, in an interview with TASS news agency on March 31, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he hopes that Greece will become a "bridge between the West and Russia," adding that his government does not agree with sanctions against Russia, which he described as a "road to nowhere."