> as that would be a thing that Putin had done after a millennium of no cultural and religious active contacts between Moscow and the Greek lands. Arguably the

> as that would be a thing that Putin had done after a millennium of no cultural and religious active contacts between Moscow and the Greek lands. Arguably the cultural and religious contact begun severing on the 16th of July of 1918[1] when the only Russian leaders with any marginal claim to a connection to the Byzantine Empire or the "Greek lands" were murdered. Not that their marginal claim meant anything anyway. During the following decades the Soviet regime continued the severance in their pursuit of ideological supremacy and ethnic cleansing. See for example the Greek Operation[2] and the Deportation of the Soviet Greeks[3]. Any claim *(by the Russian state apparatus) to a Byzantine or Greek connection is only made to legitimize Russian imperialist ambitions. And to fan anti-American and pro-Russian sentiments in Greece. [1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_the_Romanov_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_the_Romanov_family [2]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Operation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Operation [3]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_the_Soviet_Greeks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_the_Soviet_Gree... edit: Added a link to the murder of the Romanovs. edit2(*): Clarified that this is not an accusation against the parent comment.