ABSTRACT
The Karamanlis government’s policy towards the Soviet Bloc can be divided in two sub-periods. In 1955-59, a time of trial for Greek-NATO relations, the Soviets made impressive offers for economic co-operation. In the summer of 1956, the Soviet Foreign Minister, Dmitri Shepilov, paid an unofficial visit to Athens. This was the first high-level Soviet visit to Greece since 1917. Shepilov put forward proposals for extensive bilateral economic co-operation, which the British Foreign Office described as ‘a take over bid’.1 At the same time, the Soviet Ambassador to Athens, Mikhail Sergueev, was very active especially on bilateral cultural relations; this was underlined by the US Chargé, James Penfield, in his November 1957 report to the State Department which was leaked to Greek political circles and thus contributed to the overthrow of the Karamanlis government in early 1958.
