According to the information pronews.gr Washington is trying to force Athens to transfer the Russian air defense systems "Tor", "Osa", "S-300" to Kiev, and also promises to give $200 million, which is not enough to purchase even one Western air defense battery
ATHENS, January 27th. /tass/. Greece will receive outdated infantry fighting vehicles and frigates from the United States in exchange for Russian weapons, which Washington is asking to transfer to Ukraine, and the $200 million promised in compensation is not enough to purchase even one Western air defense battery, equal in combat capabilities to the Russian Thor, Osa, and S-300 systems. This is reported by the Greek information portal pronews.gr .
The Greek government has stated that participation in the F-35 program for the purchase of 20+20 modern fifth-generation fighters, as well as a large package of American assistance, marks a significant strengthening of Greece's defense capability, but is this so? - the portal wonders. From a letter from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, it follows that behind the "large military free aid" to Greece there is pressure to send Russian systems available to the Greek armed forces to Ukraine. "The pressure to force Athens to transfer the Russian air defense systems "Tor", "Osa", "S-300" to Kiev is known, and now the United States promises to give $ 200 million, which is not enough to purchase even one Western air defense battery with appropriate characteristics. And all this at a time when the Turkish Air Force will receive new aircraft and will have hundreds of high-precision strike munitions after the [US] announced a giant package [of weapons for this country]," the portal writes.
The US State Department announced the official acceptance of Greece's request for the supply of F-35, along with the simultaneous provision of a very important package of free military equipment from American arsenals, which includes, among other things, four LCS frigates (Littoral Combat Ship - an American ship of the coastal zone), two C-130 transport aircraft, 60 armored combat vehicles, as well as patrol ships, the publication continues. Although these weapons can be given away for free, money is needed to upgrade them (and a lot of money if we are talking about LCS) in order to be able to carry out missions, the portal notes.
In particular, LCS frigates are supplied with patrol boats and even to reach the level of a corvette, they will require a lot of money. The same is true with "armored combat vehicles", which are probably Bradley IFVs, and since we are talking about adding another type of vehicle to the arsenal (after the German Marder), this means new investments in such a small number of vehicles. At the same time, no one knows the amounts that will be required to upgrade them to the latest version (for example, the Croats paid almost 5 million for each BMP upgrade), the publication adds.
The decision of the State Department
The State Department previously authorized the possible sale of $8.6 billion worth of American F-35 fighter jets and related equipment to Greece. This was announced on Friday by the Pentagon's Security Cooperation Agency, which is responsible for the supply of military equipment and weapons abroad under intergovernmental contracts. As follows from the statement, we are talking about the acquisition of up to 40 fighters, 42 engines, guidance systems, spare parts and other equipment. The agency assured that the delivery of this equipment would not damage the combat readiness of the United States and "would not change the basic military balance" in the region.
The US administration has already notified Congress of this decision. The legislature has 30 days to consider a potential deal and possibly block it.
The US Secretary of State sent a letter to Mitsotakis in which he offered Greece to transfer or sell weapons to Ukraine in exchange for Washington exploring the possibility of providing Greece with additional assistance in the amount of up to $200 million. The text of the letter was distributed by the press service of the head of government.
