Greek Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos has reiterated Athens’ unwillingness to send Leopard 2A6 tanks to Ukraine.
Speaking at a session of the parliament’s committee for national defense and foreign affairs on Thursday, Panagiotopoulos recalled that Greece had already provided Ukraine with several infantry fighting vehicles and ammunition of various calibers.
“From the very beginning, our position was clear and unambiguous. We deliver what we can deliver, and we don't supply anything that could weaken our own defense capabilities even in the slightest degree, given Greece’s national security challenges," the minister added.
He spoke after Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a Japanese newspaper that Athens would not send the Leopard 2 to Kiev for “the simple reason that they are absolutely necessary for our defense posture.”
"We've also always made it very clear that we are willing to support Ukraine but not at the expense of our defense capabilities," the PM added.
In January, Berlin said it would send 14 Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks to Ukraine, also agreeing to provide re-export licenses for other countries willing to supply these German-made armored vehicles.
Since then, Warsaw, Ottawa, Lisbon, and Oslo have also said they could deliver various modernizations of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, with up to 14 tanks coming from Poland, four such vehicles from Canada, three Leopard 2s from Portugal, and eight from Norway.
Greece, which purportedly possesses 180 Leopard 2 tanks, has never signaled its readiness to deliver them to Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that NATO countries “play with fire" by supplying weapons to Kiev, and that any convoy of arms for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russian forces. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, for his part, underscored that NATO allies' arming and training Ukrainian forces amounts to direct involvement in the standoff.