Selection: Michalis Katsigeras

GREECE-USSR: Paris, 1 - Is the Soviet Union trying to win over Greece? This information was reported today by the Moscow correspondent for Agence France-Presse. Given the major diplomatic activity currently under way by the Kremlin’s leaders from the shores of the Nile to Rangoon at the southern borders of the Eastern Empire, this does not seem completely unlikely. According to the French correspondent, Russia’s diplomacy corps wants to profit from the breach that has opened up in relations between Greece on the one hand and Britain and Turkey on the other over the Cyprus issue. Proposals have been forwarded to Athens in line with recent efforts by Russia to establish links with countries in the Middle East. The Soviet press has recently been talking about “longstanding bonds of friendship” between the Greek and Soviet peoples and suggesting the improvement of these relations to the benefit of both countries. Western observers, added the French agency, believe that these methods reflect the Kremlin’s hope that the new Greek goverment of Constantine Karamanlis will adopt a more neutral stance toward relations with Russia.