Document:Russian Influence in Greece (Final)
| An file on Ivan Savvidis, a Greek multi-millionaire with ties to Russia |
political file by Integrity Initiative dated 22 04 2018Subjects: Ivan Savvidis
Example of: Integrity Initiative/Leak/2
Source: 'Anonymous' (Link)
★ Start a Discussion about this document
Russian Influence in Greece
“I’m so happy to hear the Russian language being spoken at the National University of Athens. Yesterday I informed President Putin about today’s event. I’m convinced that occasions like this one today will help improve relations between Russia and Greece. Ioannis Kapodistrias spoke Russian fluently. So it would be such a shame to cut this thread that stretches back to that time and to not let it stretch out into the future. We are working constantly to spread the Russian language even further”. (Kapodistrias founded the university and was the first governor of Greece after the War of Independence against Ottoman rule, 1821-1828).
These are the words of Ivan Savvidis in 2016, at a special event held at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens to mark the launch of a collaboration between Mr Savvidis’ Charity Foundation and the leading Greek university. The four-year deal provides 60,000 euros a year to cover the salaries and expenses of lecturers and professors deemed experts in Russian language and culture.
Mr Savvidis made a similar deal with the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, where he funds two posts: one to teach Russian and the other for extended studies of the history and culture of Pontus, a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in the eastern Black Sea region of modern-day Turkey, Anatolia. Historically speaking, Pontus is of special significance for modern Greece as Greek culture flourished there for centuries until ethnic cleansing by the neo-Turkish movement at the start of the 20th century. Pontic Greeks were purged, along with Assyrians, Armenians and other Christian minorities. It is estimated that about 500,000 Pontic Greeks were killed. There was also a considerable resistance movement by Pontic Greeks and a large exodus of refugees, especially towards northern Greece and Thessaloniki. Also, Mr Savvidis traces his roots back to Pontus. Traditionally, Pontic Greeks had a strong attachment to Russia. They are still characterized by strong nationalist and anti-Turkish sentiments, and the majority of them are strong adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church. Lastly, Pontic Greeks had (and still have, although to a limited extent nowadays) a dialect of their own, and Mr Savvidis spoke exclusively Pontic Greek until the age of seven.
The event at the University of Athens took place during a year (2016) of commemorations of the historic and cultural relationship between Greece and Russia. Government and education agencies supported events like this, as well as special conferences and other activities. In 2015 the Department of Slavic Languages (which was later renamed the Department of Russian Language, Literature and Slavic Studies) was under threat of closure because the Greek government wasn’t providing enough funds. Mr Savvidis came to the rescue, as chairman of the Federation of Greek Communities in Russia.
Mr Savvidis’ involvement in Greece’s higher education institutions was combined with his deep involvement in football and the media: currently, Mr Savvidis is the owner of F. C. PAOK, the Panhellenic Athletic Club of Constantinople, founded in 1926 in Thessaloniki by Greek refugees from Anatolia after the end of the Greek-Turkish War (1919-1922), which ended with Greece’s defeat. PAOK is the most popular football club in northern Greece and especially in Thessaloniki. There is a high level of corruption in Greek football. For many it is no coincidence that PAOK may this year win the national championship for the first time in over 30 years: since Mr Savvidis is the owner (he also came to the rescue of PAOK and paid off all of its debts) and since he has strong affiliations with the present Greek government, it is only natural that he should be “rewarded” with the championship. Also, Mr Savvidis’ dynamic entry into Greek public life was combined with his involvement in the Greek media. Outlets currently under his control back the coalition government between the radical left SYRIZA and the populist far-right ANEL, which was formed after the national election in January 2015.
Mr Savvidis’ is now a household name, but for many in Greece he is also somewhat of an enigma. No one knows where this millionaire with roots in Russia and strong affiliations with President Putin himself came from. The truth is, however, that Mr Savvidis was not born on Russian soil, while his relationship with Putin has not always been plain sailing.
Ivan Savvidis was born 27 March 1959 in the village of Santa, in Tsalka, a remote region of southern Georgia, when it was part of the former Soviet Union. This was an area where Greeks lived and Mr Savvidis was the eighth child of a Greek family of workers. His upbringing combined hardboiled Soviet ideals with religious beliefs. Many Greeks at that time conducted Orthodox Church worship in private.
His family moved to Rostov, on the northeast coast of the Black Sea, and after school, young Ivan was drafted into the Soviet army. He was discharged in 1980, worked for a while in a state tobacco factory, and in 1984 went to study at the department of accountancy of the Rostov Institute of National Economy, where he obtained his degree in 1988. He won a position at the same state tobacco factory, where he soon rose to the position of deputy manager. During that time he married Kyriaki and had two sons, George and Nick. His son’s wedding on 11 June 2016 took place in the Holy Spirit Temple in the Prohoma area of Thessaloniki. This particular church is an exact copy of the church in Ivan Savvidis’ birth place in Georgia and it was built in Prohoma courtesy of Mr Savvidis, in memory of his parents.
The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the privatization of many state enterprises, and the company where Mr Savvidis worked was one of them. In 1993, he was appointed general manager and became a member of the board of trustees. That year, the firm was renamed CJSC Donskoy Tabak, and Mr Savvidis remained at its helm for around 10 years. Today, his wife is officially its main owner, and the firm is considered to be the biggest tobacco company in Russia.
That was only the beginning. Mr Savvidis has been involved in a series of different businesses. In 2013, Forbes magazine put his Agrocom company 152nd on a list of the 200 biggest Russian firms, while also ranking him as the 30th richest person in Russia. Savvidis founded Agrocom in 2004: it’s a conglom
