Isolated Greece pivots east to Russia, China and Iran. But will it work?
"There's no doubt the Russians could provide small amounts of financial support, but they're not in a position to give the kind of money Greece needs to stay in the eurozone," says Simon Tilford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform. "The amounts involved are far beyond the scope of Moscow, whose economy is not much bigger than the Netherlands."
..."[Flirting with] Russia is almost guaranteed to antagonise and make it harder for those who want the Germans to be more conciliatory towards Greece," adds Mr Tilford. "The strategy is counter-productive to brokering a deal and doesn't offer up any serious alternative sources of money for Athens."