Russia is dangerously hardening its stance towards Greece, openly denouncing the New Democracy government as a servant of the West. Moscow bans a Greek official and warns of further retaliation, openly denouncing the New Democracy government as a servant of Western geopolitical ambitions.
Using the tools of press censorship and submission to NATO orders. The latest act in this Cold War scenario was written with the announcement by the Russian Foreign Ministry on June 4, 2025, which announced the imposition of sanctions against a Greek official in retaliation for the deprivation of accreditation of the correspondent correspondent of the Russian state agency Rossiya Segodnya, Gennady Melnik.
As she stated, Melnik’s office had been operating in Athens for over two decades until it was forced to close following the Greek government’s decision not to renew his accreditation. She said that Melnik’s office had been operating in Athens for over two decades until it was forced to close after the Greek government decided not to renew its accreditation for 2025. Moscow, citing political censorship and suppression of pluralism, responded by banning a high-ranking Greek official from entering Russia, based on federal law 114-FZ.
The Russian side sees the Greek government’s actions as closely aligned with the decision-making centers in Washington and Brussels. Zakharova, using language that is unusually aggressive for a European country, accused the Mitsotakis government of willingly participating in Western propaganda, which, according to the Russians, supports the “Nazi regime in Kiev.” As she pointed out, this is not the first time that Greece has taken an active role in efforts to isolate Russia in the European information space, recalling the precedent of Sputnik and Russia Today, which were also expelled from Greece following EU decisions.
Russia is now sending a clear message that it will not tolerate further actions that it considers unilateral and hostile. The Melnik case is being used by Moscow to highlight what it considers to be the continued targeting of Russian media by pro-Western regimes, with Greece – in the eyes of the Kremlin – playing the role of a “pawn” in a communications and geopolitical attack against Russia. Russian diplomacy warns that retaliation may be extended and that it is closely monitoring Greece’s position within NATO, the EU, and the media.
Athens, for its part, is currently maintaining radio silence, without having issued an official response, a sign of either embarrassment or careful planning in view of a possible escalation. However, this silence may be interpreted by the Russian side as confirmation of the stance it denounces: full alignment with the Euro-Atlantic doctrine and disregard for Russian concerns and presence.
The escalation is now a fact, and Greece, although formally a minor player in the global geopolitical arena, has entered Moscow’s crosshairs with all that this entails. The political cynicism of the 21st century, cloaked in the guise of information and institutional values, is evolving into a shadow war, and Greece – deliberately or not – is now in the line of fire.
