ALEXANDROUPOLI, Greece – It’s an unlikely geopolitical flashpoint: a concrete pier in somewhat coastal metropolis, barely used a couple of years in the past and nonetheless occupied solely by sea gulls more often than not.
However the sleepy port of Alexandroupoli in northeastern Greece has taken on a central position in growing the US army presence in Japanese Europe, with the Pentagon transporting huge arsenals by way of right here in what it describes as the hassle to comprise Russian aggression. That circulation has angered not solely Russia but in addition neighboring Turkey, underlining how struggle in Ukraine is reshaping Europe’s financial and diplomatic relationships.
Turkey and Greece are each NATO members, however there’s long-standing animosity between them, together with battle over Cyprus and territorial disputes within the Mediterranean, and Turkey sees a deeper relationship between Greece and Washington as a possible risk.
The spike in army exercise has been welcomed by the federal government of Greece, most of its Balkan neighbors and native residents, who hope that People will stimulate the regional financial system and supply safety amid rising regional tensions.
“We’re a small nation,” mentioned Yiannis Kapelas, 53, an Alexandroupoli cafe proprietor. “It’s a great factor to have an enormous nation to guard us.”
Elevating the strategic stakes is the upcoming sale of the Alexandroupoli port. 4 teams of firms are competing to purchase a controlling stake – two embrace American companies, backed by Washington, and two have ties to Russia.
US army operations in Greece have expanded vastly since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, and high officers from Russia and Turkey have referred to as {that a} nationwide safety risk.
“Towards whom had been they established?” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey mentioned in June, referring to the US army outposts in Greece. “The reply they provide is ‘towards Russia.’ We don’t purchase it.”
Whereas most of NATO has sided emphatically with Ukraine, Erdogan – at all times prepared to chart a special course – has positioned Turkey as a mediator.
In Might, the Greek International Ministry mentioned Turkish fighter jets violated the nation’s air area over Alexandroupoli, 11 miles from the Turkish border. The incident unnerved native residents involved with Turkey’s claims to elements of Greece.
The complicated interaction of pursuits at Alexandroupoli highlights how the struggle is shifting the strategic focus of Europe to the Black Sea area.
“The Black Sea is again on the worldwide agenda in an unprecedented approach,” mentioned Ilian Vassilev, a former Bulgarian ambassador to Moscow who now works as a strategic marketing consultant. “Safety within the Black Sea is central to the difficulty of the way you comprise and take care of Russia.”
Greece and Russia share deep historic, financial and cultural ties centered on the frequent Orthodox Christian faith. Greeks are among the many few Europeans who largely need to keep financial ties to Russia, polls present. However the struggle in Ukraine has badly strained these bonds.
The occupation of Ukrainian lands has struck a chord amongst Greeks, a lot of whom see parallels between the imperial rhetoric of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and the territorial claims of Turkey, whose predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, dominated Greece for hundreds of years. The plight of Ukrainians has additionally resonated with Greek households whose ancestors fled Turkish pogroms within the early twentieth century.
“We all know concerning the ache of refugees,” mentioned Dimosthenis Karavoltsos, an Alexandroupoli taverna server. “There was no query in my thoughts about what aspect we must be on.”
Greece’s conservative authorities was one of many first to ship army support to Ukraine, prompting the Kremlin to place it on an inventory of “unfriendly” nations. Concern of Turkey and solidarity with Ukraine have pushed Greece nearer to Washington, and it has granted the USA expanded army entry in a number of areas.
The quantity of struggle materiel moved by the USA by way of Alexandroupoli jumped practically fourteenfold final 12 months – earlier than the struggle, however as tensions with Russia mounted – to three,100 “items,” a catchall time period utilized by the Pentagon for all types of apparatus from tanks to ammunition. It has already matched that determine this 12 months.
US officers say the gear is destined solely for US army items stationed in Japanese and Northern Europe, not for Ukraine.
The leap in exercise is a dramatic turnaround for a minor port that stood largely idle for nearly a decade, blocked by a sunken barge that the US Navy eliminated in 2019.
The city’s languid temper is remodeled each few months when US warships dock to unload tanks, vans and artillery. The arrival of a whole lot of People prompts periodic shortages of eggs and cigarettes, and features exterior tattoo parlors.
Between these bursts of exercise, few indicators pointed to town’s new significance. On the seaside promenade close to the port, {couples} push strollers, and day trippers, largely from Turkey, snap selfies beneath town’s lighthouse. Civilian delivery stays minimal due to the shortage of enormous cranes, however the Pentagon is putting in heavy gear to deal with extra cargo.
“What we’ve got achieved is rework the port right into a dynamic army operations hub,” mentioned Andre Cameron, who oversees US army logistics on the port. “Nothing prefer it has been achieved right here earlier than.”
Native officers mentioned they hoped the army upgrades on the port would entice investments in different industries, turning Alexandroupoli right into a commerce hub for close by Bulgaria, Romania and even blockaded Ukraine.
The port’s rising strategic significance has highlighted the Russian ties of two Greek enterprise teams competing to take it over.
One group is led by Ivan Savvidis, a Russian-Greek oligarch who has served within the Russian parliament and sits on a international relations committee advising Putin. “Greek by start, Russian by way of life, Orthodox by religion,” says an announcement on Savvidis’ web site, which contains a picture of him with Putin.
Savvidis’ bid could also be difficult by his possession of the port of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest, which might run afoul of competitors legal guidelines. His spokesperson declined to remark.
One other bidder, a subsidiary of a Greek conglomerate, Copelouzos Group, is extra complicated, highlighting Greece’s shifting financial ties.
Copelouzos is the native companion of state-owned Russian fuel firm Gazprom and, in a three way partnership referred to as Prometheus Gasoline, is Greece’s third-largest provider of pure fuel. Copelouzos Group constructed – and, till 2016, operated – the airport of St. Petersburg, Russia.
A diplomatic memo on the group’s founder, Dimitrios Copelouzos, written by the US ambassador to Greece in 2007 and printed by WikiLeaks is titled: “Gazprom by every other identify?”
Copelouzos’ opponents and detractors say that these ties make him weak to strain from Gazprom, compromising the way forward for Alexandroupoli’s strategic operations.
“There are important considerations as a result of the state of affairs with Russia can deteriorate,” mentioned John Charalambakis, an proprietor of BlackSummit Monetary Group, an American asset administration agency that’s competing for management of Alexandroupoli. “The truth that Russia is utilizing power as a weapon is a crucial issue.”
Considerations over Copelouzos’ Russian ties are shared by some members of Congress, in line with two congressional workers members accustomed to the matter. They spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to talk to the information media.
Copelouzos Group is privately held and doesn’t make public its monetary efficiency, however says that its three way partnership with Gazprom represents a tiny share of its enterprise portfolio, which spans building, actual property and power.
“The group has many cooperations internationally with many firms,” mentioned Ioannis Arapoglou, the Copelouzos Group’s basic supervisor. Prometheus Gasoline “is simply a kind of, and a comparatively small one for the dimensions of the corporate.”
He famous that the Copelouzos household is investing in a challenge to construct a liquid pure fuel terminal close to Alexandroupoli, meant to scale back Balkan reliance on Russian fuel by bolstering provides from the USA.
For his half, Charalambakis, the American businessman, mentioned his curiosity within the port started in 2018, when Washington’s ambassador to Greece on the time, Geoffrey Pyatt, instructed him American firms wanted to begin competing with Russia and China for affect there.
Washington’s rising consideration was highlighted Wednesday, when Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chair of the International Relations Committee, made a shock go to to Alexandroupoli.
Greece has been steadily privatizing strategic property since its debt disaster started in 2009. The Thessaloniki port went to Savvidis; the port of Piraeus, Greece largest, to a Chinese language state-owned agency.
Pyatt, who left the publish in Might, has spoken out often in help of the 2 American bids for Alexandroupoli.
The opposite American bidder, Quintana Infrastructure & Growth, declined to remark.
The Copelouzos Group’s shift towards American companions mirrors Greece’s altering financial actuality, because the sanctioned and shrinking Russian financial system provides fewer alternatives.
This pragmatic method is echoed in Alexandroupoli. Native officers and businessmen hope the struggle in Ukraine and regional tensions will rework the port into an alternate provide route that bypasses the Turkish-controlled straits to the Black Sea.
“Each disaster creates alternatives,” mentioned Konstantinos Chatzikonstantinou, CEO of the Alexandroupoli Port Authority.
This text initially appeared in The New York Instances.
