‘For the sake of old comradeship lift the embargo for us, Mr Putin’

“I fully understand the reasons that prompted you to take the decision to impose an embargo on EU agricultural products. However, on behalf of the Greek people, who are going through a period of extreme hardship, I appeal to your humane feelings to think again over your decision toward the Greek farmers.”

Thus starts the emotional personal letter sent last week by Manolis Glezos, the 92-year-old leftist politician, to the president of the Russian Federation after Putin’s decision to impose an import ban on most food products exported to Russia by the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway as a response to Western sanctions against Moscow over its role in Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula.

Glezos, a living legend and a national hero of the Greek resistance against Nazi Germany during World War II, had an additional reason for attempting to change the mind of his “former comrade.” A lifelong political fighter in the leftist camp, Glezos was even arrested and tried in the late 1950s by an Athens military court for “spying in favor of the Soviet Union.” The case against him was eventually dropped and he was released due to an international outcry, which led to a strong reaction by the Soviet Union whose postal service even produced a special stamp with his face on it.  

But those were the days of 1959. And Mr. Glezos, the recently elected member of the European Parliament under the banner of Syriza, knows that he should fight his war with a newer weapon.

“Our people were the only ones who stood against the wishes of the EU Directorate. We stood against the partition of Yugoslavia, then the bombing of Serbia, the invasion in Iraq, the threats against Syria… and we...