Press release on the Russian-Greek Forum of Civil Societies

The Russian-Greek Forum of Civil Societies, which was organised by the Russian Association of International Cooperation (RAMS) and the Philia Association for Cultural and Business Cooperation and Friendship with the Peoples of Greece and Cyprus, was held on October 5 in the Foreign Ministry building in Moscow.

Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sent their greetings to forum participants, who were also addressed by Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksey Meshkov and Chairman of the Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev.

The forum has shown yet again the important contribution citizen diplomacy makes to Russian-Greek relations. Members of the public in Russia and Greece have worked to strengthen their interaction at different levels for a long time, complementing official interstate relations.

A bust of Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias (1776-1831), minister plenipotentiary in the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Empire and the first governor of newly independent Greece, made by sculptor Grigory Pototsky, was presented to the Russian Foreign Ministry during the forum. The ceremony was attended by Sergey Kalashnikov, First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy and Presidium Chair of the Russian Association of International Cooperation, and Georgy Muradov, Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea and President of the Philia Association for Cultural and Business Cooperation and Friendship with the Peoples of Greece and Cyprus.