ATHENA, Jan 31 Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis Vo During his visit to Japan, he said that Greece would not supply Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, a correspondent for the Greek public television ERT reported from Tokyo.
According to the correspondent, Mitsotakis made such a statement in an interview with Nikkei Asia.
«We have provided significant military support to Ukraine, such as with armored infantry vehicles, but we will not give Leopard 2 tanks for the simple reason that they are absolutely essential to our defense strategy. We want to support Ukraine, but not for at the expense of our defense capabilities,» ERT quoted the prime minister as saying.
European media are discussing the possibility of sending tanks to Ukraine from EU countries, some countries have declared their readiness to transfer them to the Ukrainian army. In addition to Germany, Poland and Finland, Spain, Greece and Denmark have Leopard tanks.
Greece was one of the first countries to send weapons to Ukraine — already on February 27, 2022, a few days after the start of the special military operation of the Russian Federation, it sent 40 tons of equipment through Poland on two S-130 aircraft. After that, Greece sent new batches of weapons and military equipment.
It is also planned to transfer 40 East German-made armored infantry vehicles of the BMP-1 type received by the Greeks in 1994. In return, Greece will receive from Germany an equal number of German-made Marder armored fighting vehicles. The first BMP-1s were sent to Ukraine in autumn.