The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Crimea to Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Russian Ambassador to Cyprus Georgiy Lvovich Muradov has warned Greece against transferring S-300s to Ukraine.
Muradov has said that the intention of the Greek authorities to transfer the S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Ukraine was risky for Greece’s national interests.
His warning comes after Greek National Defence Minister Nikos Panayiotopoulos admitted that the Greek government was ready to send the S-300 air defence systems from Crete to Ukraine if the USA “installs Patriot systems in their place”.
Speaking to Russian media outlet RIA Novosti, Muradov said: “Such a move by Athens would not only be a senseless demonstration of hostility towards Russia, but also a risky step towards its own national interests, as the Greek public is already loudly declaring.
He said that Greece should remember that Russia proceeded from the once-friendly relations with Athens and the Republic of Cyprus when it supplied them with S-300 anti-aircraft defence systems at the end of the last century.
“As the Russian ambassador to Cyprus at the time, I can remind you that they do not work against Russia, because they are equipped with a system of recognition of ‘friend-foe’,” he said. “However, transferring these systems to Kyiv would undoubtedly radically undermine the Greek defence potential.”
RIA noted that since the 1990s, Greece has been using Russian anti-aircraft missile systems S-300 (S-300PMU-1) and Tor-M1, military anti-aircraft missile systems “Osa-AKM” (NATO classification SA-8 Gecko “Gecko”), antitank missile systems “Kornet-E” and “Fagot”, amphibious hovercraft crafts “Zubr” and armoured infantry vehicles.
While for several years, the US has been pushing Greece to give up Soviet and Russian-made weapons and replace them with American-made ones, as reported by RIA.