Europe should do more to help Greece, says Russia

Russian president Vladimir Putin has criticised the European Union's handling of the Greek debt crisis, insisting its focus should be on helping the country restore economic growth.

Mr Putin was speaking as Greece continued on a collision course with its lenders, with the prospect of possible default and a disorderly "Grexit" from the European single currency looming ever larger.

He said Moscow should be "applauded" for sealing an investment agreement with Greece on a pipeline to carry Russian gas to Europe via Turkey, with the potential for transit payments worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year to Athens after its completion in 2019.

The deal came as Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras visited St Petersburg for talks with Mr Putin, which ended without any offer of a Russian loan to ease the current crisis.

Time is running out for Mr Tsipras's left-wing Syriza government, which must find €1.6 billion) to repay the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by June 30.

Mr Putin said: "If the European Union wants Greece to pay its debts, it should be interested in growing the Greek economy, helping it to pay its debts.

"The European Union should be applauding us. What's wrong with creating jobs in Greece?"

Standing alongside Mr Putin, the Greek prime minister said Russia was "one of the most important partners for us".

In an apparent nod to his hosts, Mr Tsipras added: "We are at the moment at the centre of a storm, of a whirlpool. But we live near the sea, so we are not scared of storms, we are not scared of open seas, and of going into new seas. We are ready to go to new seas in order to reach new, safe ports."

He called on the EU to return to its founding principles of "solidarity, justice and social justice", warning that "strict economic measures will lead us nowhere".

"The so-called problem of Greece is not just a Greek problem, it is the problem of the whole European Union," said Mr Tsipras.