(ANSA) - ATHENS - Greek premier Alexis Tsipras had requested Moscow to lend Greece 10 billion US dollars to start printing a new currency, GRReporter writes quoting a story published by the Greek daily To Vima. As stated in the newspaper that refers to the words of the Greek Prime Minister in his latest interview with the state television ERT, he was "aware that the introduction of the national currency would not be possible without the availability of a considerable amount of currency in Greece," continuing, "Therefore, he had requested Moscow to lend 10 billion US dollars to use them to support the drachma." According to To Vima, "Moscow had not rejected the request but vaguely started to consider a loan of USD 5 billion as a "down payment" for the South Stream pipeline. Simultaneously, there had been loan requests to Iran and China but none of the two countries had succumbed to temptation because they had no benefit from being involved in a blow against the euro zone." The report signed by Pavlos Papadopoulos and entitled "Leonid, Alexis and Panagiotis" and subtitled "The former KGB agent, the flirt with Syriza, the trips to Moscow and the loan that had never been granted" describes in detail unknown scenes from recent months and the rapprochement of the Greek government with Moscow. (ANSA).