Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras has begun a two-day visit to Moscow, where he is scheduled to meet with senior political leaders.

Tsipras, who is the European Left‘s candidate for European Commission president, is due to meet Valentina Matviyenko, the chairperson of the upper house or Federation Council of the Russian Federation, a firm ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and was ambassador to Greece in 1997–1998.