[6] Pontic Greeks historically inhabited the northern coast of the Black Sea and Crimea, the latter of which was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the latter half of the 18th century.

During the early years of the Kievan Rus', Vladimir the Great of what is now Russia and Ukraine sent out various missionaries to study different faiths that would suit the country, and most crucially, for him.

One of his missionaries travelled to the Byzantine Empire and experienced enlightenment for themselves as they had come across Eastern Orthodoxy being practised in now modern-day Greece.

[7] The second queen of modern Greece was born Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia, granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I.

In the autumn of 1920, Soviet Russia, having concluded a friendship treaty with the Government of the Grand National Assembly in March 1921, began to extend material assistance, in both gold and arms, to the Mustafa Kemal's regime in Ankara, thus significantly contributing to his military success during the war against the Greeks in Asia Minor,[8] where the Greek genocide was completed as a result in 1922.

The Percentages Agreement struck by Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill in Moscow in October 1944, which placed Greece firmly in the British sphere of influence, led to the Soviet Union's noninterference in support of the communist uprising in Athens in December 1944, which was crushed with British help as and Stalin's refusal to render tangible assistance to the Greek Communists during the Greek Civil War, which they lost in October 1949.

[9][10] Most ethnic Greeks living in Crimea as well as other regions near the Black Sea in the Soviet Union were deported to the east of the country in three waves of forced resettlement in the 1940s.

[11] According to Western intelligence officials, Greece's society and political establishment have been deeply penetrated by the Soviet and later the Russian espionage agencies.

[16] Following Russia's retaliatory move in early August, it was revealed Greece intended to recall its ambassador, Andreas Fryganas, who had been appointed in May 2016.

[17][18][19][20] The Greek Foreign Ministry′s statement on 10 August 2018 stated: ″Since [Russia] began fighting as a comrade in arms with Turkey, providing it with a number of facilitations in the security sector, it appears to be steadily distancing itself from positions befitting the level of friendship and cooperation that has characterized Greek-Russian relations for the past 190 years.

[22] After talks with Vladimir Putin, both leaders expressed hope that the spat between the two countries was in the past, bilateral agreements were signed and international issues like the Cyprus dispute were discussed.

[29] On 13 December 2018, in Washington, D.C., the Greek Foreign Minister and the American Secretary of State formally launched what they called "the inaugural U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue",[30][31] which Greek Acting Foreign Minister Georgios Katrougalos characterised as ″a procedure that shows the upgrading of our relations with that country″[32] and ″the apex of our bilateral relations″.

[34] On 14 January 2019, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a commentary that referred to the agreement as the "Prespa deal" and stated that the decision by the Parliament of North Macedonia to change the country's name had been imposed from outside and did not reflect the will of the people and came "with an aim of pulling Skopje into NATO as soon as possible".

The statement went on to cite "the recent developments in Greece — withdrawal from the government coalition of the Independent Greeks Party leader, Panos Kammenos, coming out against the Prespa accord" as evidence that stability and security in the Balkans was thus being undermined.

[42] France's President Emmanuel Macron, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken,[43] along with Germany,[44] Poland, Sweden[45] and other countries, expressed their condolences to Greece for the massacre, while Moscow denied any involvement, with the Russian embassy claiming a Ukrainian far-right militant organization, the Azov Battalion, was behind the incident.

On March 6, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Greece of anti-Russian propaganda, which goes against the countries' historical ties.

[67] There is a large imbalance in trade, in 2021 Greece imported $6.3 billion of goods, mainly energy related oil and gas, whilst exports to Russia were just $468m.