The representative of the US State Department, Ned Price, said that there is a consensus in Western countries regarding the urgent need to strengthen Ukrainian air defenseATHENS, December 20.
/tass/. The representative of the US State Department, Ned Price, commenting on the possible dispatch of Greek-owned S-300 systems from the island of Crete to Ukraine and their replacement with the American Patriot system, said that the decision on the supply of weapons to Kiev is made by the country to which they belong.
"Each country should decide for itself what it is able to prepare and provide to Ukraine. And we certainly appreciate the many ways in which the international community, including Greece, has demonstrated its support," Hellas journal quoted him as saying on Tuesday. Price noted that sometimes countries provide such assistance without publicly declaring it, but in some cases this was openly reported. "You may remember that in the early days of this conflict, Slovakia decided to provide Ukraine with the S-300 system. We were able to support this contribution by meeting the needs of Slovakia," the State Department representative said.
He claimed that there is unanimity in Western countries regarding the urgent need to strengthen Ukrainian air defense, and said that ways are being sought to better protect Ukraine's airspace. "We certainly recognize the deep threat that Ukraine faces from the air, and this is also recognized by our NATO allies, which, of course, includes Greece. This is always a topic for discussion when we talk with our Ukrainian partners about what they need to protect their people and their country from the air," Price said.
As stated in a comment circulated on Monday by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, Moscow considers Greece's plans to supply Ukraine with S-300 and other Russian or Soviet-style air defense systems hostile to Russia. Zakharova recalled that this is a gross violation of the provisions of the Russian-Greek intergovernmental agreements on military-technical cooperation of October 30, 1995 and on the supply of military products of December 3, 2013, which prohibit Athens from re-exporting military equipment supplied by Moscow to a third party without the consent of the Russian Federation.
