Jim Rogers: “Greece Can Never Pay Its Debt! Never Ever! It’s Physically Impossible”

As Greece seeks a financial lifeline from Moscow with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, U.S. investor and businessman Jim Rogers warns that country would still “never ever” be able to pay off its debt to the IMF, adding that Athens is only trying to delay it.

Greece “is desperate for money, and Russia is a wonderful place to get money and play politics,” Rogers said.

The Prime Minister has been widely criticized for his visit to Russia by the Western mainstream media ahead of its promised $450 million tranche to the IMF, which Greece has said it will pay on Thursday as part of its €324-billion ($354 billion) debt.

“Greece can never pay its debt! Never ever! It’s physically impossible,” Rogers said in an interview with RT. “But they can try to delay it,” he added, saying that’s what Wednesday’s Moscow visit is all about. Tsipras will try “to delay it as long as they can and then maybe they can get away with it for a while.”

Rogers explained that Greece is merely trying to “show a good face” as the country manages to pay off at least some money, or shows efforts to do so, that it could stay afloat.

Russia is a perfect place for Greece’s recently-elected government to “play politics,” Rogers explained, saying that “it’s the perfect ploy to play Russia off against the EU and against the West because of what’s going on in Ukraine.”

If their plan fails, Greece may turn to China for a monetary lifeline, Roger’s explained, saying that “China’s got more money than anybody… than all of us put together.” With such China-led financial projects as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the country could soon break the dollar’s domination, adding that “this is terrible for America, it’s great for the rest of the world. We need something to compete with the USD.”