Russia-Greece History Year Extended To 2022 Due To Pandemic - Upper House Speaker

The Russia-Greece Cross Year of History will be extended to next year as some of the events scheduled for this year had to be postponed due to COVID-19, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko said

ATHENS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd October, 2021) The Russia-Greece Cross Year of History will be extended to next year as some of the events scheduled for this year had to be postponed due to COVID-19, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko said.

Matvienko traveled to Athens to attend a summit of European parliament chiefs at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Thursday.

"The leaders of our countries, Prime Minister of Greece (Kyriakos Mitsotakis) and President of Russia (Vladimir Putin) have declared 2021 the Year of History of Russia and Greece. Due to the pandemic, a number of planned events - there are more than 140 of them in Russia alone - did not take place, and it was decided to extend this year to 2022," Matvienko told the Greek Parliament's television.

She said Greek Parliament President Constantine Tassoulas will pay an official visit to Russia to discuss plans for future bilateral cooperation, without specifying the date.

The History Cross Year was timed to coincide with the milestone of 200th anniversary of the Greek national liberation revolution in 2021. When announcing the bilateral initiative in late March, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that Russia made a substantial contribution to Greece's independence from the Ottoman Empire.