Nadia Valavani, former Deputy Finance Minister under Alexis Tsipras‘ government, has commented on the leaks from the book “Ithaca” and references to a Moscow meeting with then-Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
As Nadia Valavani told parapolitika.gr, she does not remember any official meeting with Medvedev. However, she admits there is a photograph showing them all together with Medvedev, noting that their presence in the snapshot was due to a brief, ceremonial encounter that was not official in nature and that’s why she didn’t remember it.
Lafazanis and Isychos deny Tsipras’ claims about the Medvedev meeting
Panagiotis Lafazanis and Kostas Isychos deny the leaked claims about what is written in Alexis Tsipras’ book “Ithaca” regarding a trip to Russia and a meeting with Medvedev.
Kostas Isychos, former Deputy Defense Minister under Alexis Tsipras’ premiership, speaking to parapolitika.gr clarified that he was not in Russia on April 8, 2015. As he mentioned, during that disputed period, not only was he not in Moscow, but he was on a mission to Brazil with then Navy Chief Evangelos Apostolakis.
Kostas Isychos, while waiting to see the exact text that the former prime minister wrote in his book “Ithaca,” says it’s not possible for a political figure to refer to his former colleagues with derogatory characterizations. This comment comes as unofficial leaks mention that former Russian Prime Minister Medvedev characterized him, Nadia Valavani, and Panagiotis Lafazanis as graphic caricatures after they called him comrade. “Politics and ethics go hand-in-hand,” he says characteristically.
Panagiotis Lafazanis, former Energy Minister under SYRIZA, for his part denied any meeting with Medvedev, speaking to parapolitika.gr and characterized as a “figment of imagination” any references in Alexis Tsipras’ book, provided that what journalist Kostas Vaxevanis says is true.
Panagiotis Lafazanis said that even when the large delegation went with Alexis Tsipras to Moscow to sign the natural gas pipeline agreement, they ultimately did not meet with Medvedev, though he characterized that agreement as “historic.” At the same time, he emphasized that the Tsipras government deceived Russia, as if the pipeline had been built, things would be very different at a geopolitical level. “We abandoned it, resulting in Turkey appropriating it,” he notes characteristically.
It should be recalled that according to Kostas Vaxevanis, “Ithaca” describes a Moscow meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, where three ministry officials (Nadia Valavani, Kostas Isychos, and Panagiotis Lafazanis) are characterized by Alexis Tsipras as “graphic caricatures” who call Medvedev comrade and “Medvedev looks at them and laughs.”
