The Russian Foreign Ministry Director of the Information Maria Zakharova stated on Monday (local time) that a potential delivery of Greece’s S-300 PMU1 missile defence system to Ukraine would be considered a very provocative move calling Greece’s stance “completely indifferent”.

“As of late, the Greek authorities have been talking more often about their readiness to transfer to Ukraine the S-300PMU-1 surface-to-air missile systems deployed on Crete in exchange for additional US-made Patriot missile systems,” Zakharova’s statement published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation said.

“We consider the provocative plans to deliver the S-300s and other air defence systems made in Russia/the Soviet Union to the Kiev regime to be a blatantly aggressive move against Russia. The opinion of Greek citizens is being ignored, while 70 percent of them, according to public opinion polls, speak against sending Ukraine weapons.”

Zakharova accused officials in Athens of becoming a direct accomplice of “the Ukrainian neo-Nazis who have waged a criminal war against the civilians of Donbass, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, including the numerous ethnic Greeks who live there” by sending weapons to the combat zone.

She called providing assistance to Ukraine a “blatant violation” of the Russian-Greek intergovernmental agreements on military-technical cooperation of October 30, 1995, and on delivering military related products of December 3, 2013, which explicitly prohibit Greece from re-exporting our military equipment to third parties without Russia’s consent.

“The violation of contractual obligations will inevitably have consequences in addition to a significant weakening of Greece’s air defence capabilities,” she warned, stating that the Russian armed forces will locate and destroy all military supplies sent to Ukraine.Greece has reportedly expressed its willingness to transfer its Russian-built long-range S-300 air defense missile systems to Ukraine if the United States replaces them with a MIM-104 Patriot.

“If the United States installs a Patriot system on the island (Crete) and after it is integrated – connected to the national air defence system, then the S-300 can be removed,” Greek defence minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos told a meeting at the Greek Ministry of Defence ahead of Zakharova’s statement.

“The same procedure applies to any other Russian made air defense system that they may want to send to Ukraine.”

His remark came shortly after reports revealed that the United States is finalising plans to supply Ukraine with Patriots.

Online link: https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1844341/