Russian President Putin: Greece Should Consider Returning to Drachma

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that, at some point, Greece should consider returning to its national currency, the drachma. President Putin made the statement during the annual Valdai Discussion Club, a Moscow-based think tank and discussion forum established in 2004. The forum takes place at Sochi.

Greek journalist Dimitris Konstantakopoulos, an expert on Russia, was at the Valdai Discussion Club reporting that it was attended by some 140 delegates. The forum provided a unique opportunity to meet with distinguished figures from the Russian government and intellectual circles, President Putin himself, and numerous scholars and politicians from around the world.

According to Konstantakopoulos, the Russian hosts introduced the term “global majority” in the forum. There were representatives from a diverse array of nations, including China and India, as well as from Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. There were also intellectuals from the West.

The topics discussed were the current, pressing global issues, ranging from climate change and artificial intelligence to the war in Ukraine, the US elections, and the Israel-Hamas war. Experts from around the world exchanged opinions.

At the end of the forum, attendants were free to ask President Putin questions on the issues discussed.

Greece and the drachma

The Greek journalist’s question was about the economic crises that several nations across the world face at the moment. The journal asked the Russian President his opinion on what Greece needs to do to exit the current economic crisis.

President Putin’s answer to Konstantakopoulos was elaborate and included Greece’s decision for a bailout in 2015 and its bind to the EU.

Putin said, emphasizing the importance of sovereignty:

“Many of today’s economies, for various reasons and due to their commitments within economic or military-political alliances, have voluntarily given up part of their sovereignty. As a result, they are unable to make independent decisions in areas like the economy or their security. I am not urging anyone to do anything; I am simply responding to your question.”

He added:

“At some point, having the drachma, a national currency, [could be] a reasonable choice, because it would allow some regulation of social processes, even if through inflation, and help ease social tensions rather than placing the entire burden of economic challenges on the population.”

“However, Greece once chose a different path, subordinating itself to regulation through a single currency and economic decisions made in Brussels. That is not our concern; it is the sovereign choice of the Greek state.”

The Russian President said that a few of his friends in the European Union, of which he still has a few, have revealed to him that “more binding decisions are now made in Brussels for EU member states than were made by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR during the Soviet Union’s existence.”