Greek Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis has said that the political part of an agreement between Moscow and Athens over an extension to the so-called "Turkish Stream" pipeline is now ready to sign.

"We intend on developing our good ties, and we have the opportunity... to sign a political agreement [between] Russia and Greece on the maintenance of a gas pipeline with Russian gas on Greek territory," Russian agency RIA quotes Lafazanis as saying.

Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has recently been under huge pressure fromt the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to back down on some policies to avoid default and euro exit, is to visit Russia and to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

This coincides with the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) due on June 18-20 which will reportedly be also visited by two Bulgarian ministers.

Reports of English-language Kathimerini also suggest Putin might invite Tsipras to join the new development bank set up by BRICS countries as an alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Tsipras' meeting with the Russian president will be the second in just over two months as the latter is facing growing isolation over what the West describes as Russian "aggression" in Ukraine.

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