Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. File photoATHENA, Jun 15 Greece will send a «very small» number of armored vehicles, 20-30 units, to Ukraine, provided that they are replaced in the Greek Armed Forces with modern equipment from Germany, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in interview with Greek public television ERT. «We are talking about a very small number,» the prime minister said.Greece gave Ukraine an «incredible amount» of weapons, media outlets said, when Greece donated 90 old armored vehicles to Egypt in 2018, there was no noise. production. When the issue was discussed at the level of general staffs, the proposal was unanimous. We are helping Ukraine, and at the same time, on a limited scale, we are strengthening our armed forces with newer armored personnel carriers,» Mitsotakis said. The Greek media wrote that it was planned to transfer 122 BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles. To the remark that the Greeks learned about the dispatch of Greek armored vehicles from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Mitsotakis said that the discussion was at the military level. «It was an official discussion that took place at the headquarters level, and, indeed, Scholz asked me, and I said: «Of course, since our headquarters agree, why not move on to the exchange (Soviet-made armored vehicles similarity to German — ed.), which is also useful for the country,» he said. Greece and Germany agreed that instead of the East German-made armored infantry vehicles of the BMP-1 type received by the Greeks in 1994, the Greeks will receive an equal number of combat German-made armored vehicles Marder. Scholz announced the agreement on May 31 at a briefing after the EU summit. Mitsotakis, at a press conference after the summit, hid the decision to send armored vehicles to Ukraine. On February 27, Greece sent 40 tons of «defense» equipment via Poland to Ukraine on two S-130 aircraft. After that, the Greek government has repeatedly stated that it does not plan to send new batches of weapons to Ukraine, so as not to weaken its defenses. Russia had previously sent a note to NATO countries because of the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect. >Greece to send obsolete armored personnel carriers to Ukraine
