Greece has not asked Russia’s finance ministry for financial assistance and its prime minister is visiting Russia to discuss joint projects, not to seek cash, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said yesterday.

With time running out for Athens to reach a reform-for-aid deal with its international creditors, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras arrived in St Petersburg yesterday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin .

“There have been no requests for help from Greece,” Storchak said at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. “There are no resources in our budget to provide money.”

Storchak said Russia was interested in Greece resolving its problems and normalising relations with its partners but Moscow did not want any “escalation of tensions”.

“The Prime Minister’s visit is, in my opinion, oriented towards finding joint projects and developing trade rather than solving their budget problems. When the measures needed to solve current problems are on such a huge scale, no one country in the world can do this on its own. Only joint efforts of many countries at once can help,”Storchak said.