Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos held consecutive meetings on Tuesday with the US ambassador to Greece David Pearce and with the Russian ambassador Andrey Maslov.

Kammenos, a former ND MP who later formed his own small right-of-center party, issued a statement afterwards stressing that Greece and the United States would continue their cooperation in the context of NATO and exchange training courses. Regarding his talks with the Russian envoy, Kammenos said discussion focused on pending agreements between Greece and Russia on what he termed “strategic cooperation”, as well as a decidedly less ambitious project of declaring 2016 the year of Greek-Russian friendship. He also said he was extended an invitation to visit Moscow.

Kammenos’ party, the Independent Greeks, is the junior coalition partner in the current Greek government.