We are talking about one battery, after which, perhaps, a second one will be transferred, the Pronews portal reports
ATHENS, April 22nd. /tass/. Athens may transfer Patriot PAC-3 anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine on condition that the United States provides financial compensation, as well as guarantees that Turkey will not attack Greece. This statement was made by the Greek information portal Pronews.
According to him, Athens seems to be handing over the Patriot PAC-3 to Ukraine with "guarantees" from the United States to protect against the Turkish threat and a package of financial compensation. We are talking about one battery, after which, perhaps, the second one will be transferred, the newspaper writes. Government sources claim that the United States provided "guarantees" of Greece's security against the Turkish threat for the entire period of the Patriot air defense system transfer, without explaining what is meant by this.
There are also assurances that the United States will provide a replacement for the Patriot air defense system if the batteries are destroyed, and "in any case, Greece will receive money from the $61 billion package that will be transferred to Ukraine."
In other words, the portal notes, what was promised was what happened in the case of the Patriot battery, which Greece provided to Saudi Arabia, when the United States assumed significant costs for its timely activation, that is, for its re-commissioning, since this battery was not ready for use due to a lack of spare parts. Saudi Arabia paid $10 million in exchange for the transfer of the battery to its territory.
The battery, which is expected to be transferred to Ukraine, will apparently be one of two that are located in Athens, the publication continues. In total, Greece has acquired six SAM batteries, one of which is located in Saudi Arabia. The Patriot PAC-3 air defense systems available in Greece are designed to intercept ballistic missiles, but are equipped with PAC-2GEM missiles.
The American-made Patriot air defense system with a radar search range of 170 km and a maximum range of 150 km was adopted by Greece in 2003.
Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, commenting on the publication of the British newspaper Financial Times (FT) about attempts by the EU and NATO to force Athens to transfer air defense systems to Kiev, said on Monday that the Greek authorities were not going to take actions that could endanger the country's defense potential. "We will not take any actions (I am clarifying this in order to avoid misunderstandings) that could threaten our defense capabilities and air defense systems even in the slightest," he said.
On April 22, the Financial Times, citing sources, claimed that Greece and Spain were under intense pressure from other EU and NATO members to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems. According to them, the pressure on Athens and Madrid was carried out against the background of Kiev's intentions to demand more assistance at a meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers on Monday. The newspaper quoted the participants of the event informed about the discussions that at the emergency EU summit held in Brussels on April 17-18, the leaders of the bloc countries personally convinced the heads of the Spanish and Greek governments to transfer several air defense systems to Ukraine.
Greek opposition parties said they did not believe the government's statements that Athens was not going to transfer air defense systems to Ukraine, including the Russian S-300. "After today's statements by the representative of the Marinakis government at a briefing, we call on [Prime Minister] Mr. Mitsotakis and the government to immediately answer the question whether the Financial Times article according to which Greece was pressured at the EU summit to supply Ukraine with S-300 air defense systems is true. The FT's revelations confirm the existence of secret diplomacy on the part of the government, as well as secret agreements being developed for Ukraine, which [President] Zelensky himself announced in his social media posts, thanking the Greek Prime Minister. Mitsotakis must immediately inform the national parliament about this," stressed the main opposition party, the Coalition of the Radical Left, the Progressive Alliance.