Greek PM turns to Putin amid IMF payment delay and internal Syriza divisions

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras held an impromptu telephone call with Russian President Vladimir today just a day after delaying a payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as party colleagues reacted furiously to a reform deal proposed by creditors.

As fears grow that divisions within the ruling Syriza party will push Greece closer to a snap election, the Greek leader requested a call with Putin to discuss issues such as the construction of the Turkish Stream pipeline, which will pump resources to Europe via Greece and Turkey. The pipeline, when constructed, is projected to transport 47 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Greece and Turkey every year by 2020.

"Practical steps were discussed to implement agreements reached during the recent working visit of Alexis Tsipras to Russia, particularly the planned construction of the gas transport infrastructure across the territory of Turkey and Greece," the Russian press service said.

The phone call came ahead of Tsipras' address to the Greek parliament on negotiations with the EU, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the IMF. Many Syriza MPs are believed to be opposed to the creditors' proposal, which has had a number of details leaked, such as pension cuts and a VAT increase on electricity.

"[Juncker] took on the dirty work and conveyed the most vulgar, most murderous, toughest plan when everyone hoped that the deal was closing," Alexis Mitropoulos, senior official and a deputy parliament speaker within Syriza, told Greece's Mega TV. "And that at a time when we were finally moving towards an agreement we all want because we rule out a rift leading to tragedy."

It was revealed this morning that Greece had delayed a planned €300m debt repayment to the IMF, choosing to push back all of its four payments which are due at intervals throughout June to the end of the month instead. Experts are now predicting that if a deal is to go ahead with the leaked proposals included, there will be a split that would potentially shake the party to its core.

"In terms of the infighting, on a scale of 0 to 10, it is a 10. [Tsipras] does face a major challenge in terms of maintaining party unity," warns Kevin Featherstone, professor of Contemporary Greek Studies and European Politics at the London School of Economics.

"The expectation must be that if there is any deal with the eurozone on the basis of the kind of things we know of, then there would be a major split in the Syriza party that will happen like night follows day."

However, while some Syriza lawmakers are threatening to push for a snap election if creditors do not ease their demands, other Syriza members are insisting that talk of critical party infighting is overblown.

"I think the extent to which party unity is being threatened by this is being exaggerated. It's just a matter of different tactics, but the goal is common and no one is going to abandon the party or split the party in this moment," says Dr Myrto Tsakatika, a Syriza member and senior lecturer of politics at the University of Glasgow.

Today, an opinion poll revealed that three quarters of Greeks wish to remain in the eurozone and almost one in two favour the government sealing a deal with its creditors. The poll, created by Alco for Newsit website, showed 45% of Greeks wanted their leaders to compromise with creditors while 37% were in favour of early elections.

Greek officials have said that Athens had sufficient funds to make the delayed IMF payment on time as well as the next payment but chose not to do so. The postponed payment made Athens the first developed country to delay an IMF repayment after Zambia became the first to do so in the mid-1980s.