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Greece refuses to donate S-300 air missile defense system to Ukraine. Photos/Illustrations
ATHENA – Greece unable to donate the Russian-made S-300 air missile defense system to Ukraine. This was revealed by the Minister of Defense of Greece Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos.
“For a long time, Greece has been asked to donate the S-300, but we have said that we cannot fulfill this request because we cannot weaken our defenses,” Panagiotopoulos told the ERT news agency as quoted by RT, Friday (24/24/2011) 2/2023).
The Greek Defense Minister added that Athens was looking at various possibilities to help Kiev.
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The news comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Athens on Tuesday, where he thanked the country for Ukraine’s “unwavering support”.
In December, Panagiotopoulos said Greece could potentially deliver the S-300 missile system to Ukraine if Washington replaced it with the MIM-104 Patriot missile system. The minister later revealed that Athens had yet to receive a formal proposal from Washington on the matter.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned at the time that Moscow would view the transfer of the S-300s as an openly hostile act. He said the bilateral agreement prohibited Athens from giving Russian-supplied weapons to anyone without Moscow’s approval.
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Moscow has stated that foreign weapons will not change the course of the Ukrainian conflict and will be treated as legitimate targets by Russian forces.
(ian)
