Page 18 - TURKRptJun22

18 I Companies & Markets bne June 2022
Russian-linked businessmen bid for strategic Greek port
Matt Bernardini in Prague
Dimitris Copelouzos, a Greek businessman with close ties to Russia’s Gazprom, is seeking to purchase
a controlling stake in a port that has become a hub for US and Nato military operations in Eastern Europe.
Copelouzos’s Cameron SA, in a consortium with Bollore Africa Logistics and Gold Air Cargo, is one of the two leading contenders for control of at least a 67 percent stake in the Port of Alexandroupolis, close to the Greek border with Turkey. The other leading contender is an American consortium of Texas-based Quintana-ID and Washington DC-based Proxenos International. The other two interested parties are International Port Investments Alexandroupolis and Thessaloniki Port Authority.
The port’s privatisation comes at a time when it has assumed greater strategic importance for the US military. In December during a speech at the port, the US Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt, emphasised the port’s significance.
“The ever-growing volume of military activity here at
the Port of Alexandroupolis underscores this location’s expanding strategic role and importance for Greece, for the United States and for the wider region,” Pyatt said.
Greece’s Kathimerini daily has reported that military equipment has been sent through the port to Bulgaria, Poland and Romania. According to a person familiar with the bidding process, the port is also important because it allows the US to monitor activities in the Black Sea.
In an interview with the Greek television channel Antenna in December, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticised the way military equipment was being sent through the port.
“The sticky part is very simple," Peskov said during the interview. "You’ve got more and more Nato soldiers, American soldiers on your territory. You transfer hundreds and thousands of military equipment units through Alexandroupolis and so on and so forth. You’re opening new facilities for Nato. At the same time, Nato is naming us an enemy and Nato is formulating the main objective of the alliance and the main objective is to deter Russia. So, this makes us nervous, you have to understand us.”
The US Embassy in Athens declined to comment on the bidding process.
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Ties to Gazprom
The Copelouzos Group, which Dimitris Copelouzos founded in 1973, has long had close ties to Gazprom. In 1991 the Copelouzos Group entered into a joint partnership with Gazprom called Prometheus Gas, which imports Russian gas to Greece and resells it to other Balkan countries.
The US government (USG) has long had concerns about the Copelouzos Group. Wikileaks posted a leaked cable from 2007 with the title “Dimitrios Copelouzos and the
“The ever-growing volume of military activity here at the Port of Alexandroupolis underscores this location’s expanding strategic role and importance for Greece, for the United States and for the wider region”
Copelouzos Group: Gazprom By Any Other Name?” The cable, which was written by the former US Ambassador to Greece, Charles Pies, claimed that there was “growing concern over Copelouzos' activity that serves Russian interests and jeopardises USG's efforts to promote
Nato military equipment has been sent through the port to Bulgaria, Poland and Romania. The port is also important because it allows the US to monitor activities in the Black Sea. Photo: Texniths