Russia is worried about the transfer of NATO military equipment through the Greek port of Alexandroupolis, as well as the concentration of military forces of the alliance and the United States on the territory of Greece. This was stated by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov in an interview with the Greek TV channel “Antenna“.
The conversation was recorded before the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on December 8 in Sochi.
“The problem is very simple. More and more NATO and US soldiers are concentrating on your territory. You are transporting hundreds, thousands of pieces of military equipment through Alexandroupoli and so on. You are opening new bases for NATO, and at the same time NATO calls us an enemy, “Peskov answered to a journalist’s question that Moscow is worried about the updated agreement on defense cooperation between Greece and the United States.
In response to a reply that Greece is equally concerned about the S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems that Russia has supplied to Turkey, Peskov replied that “the S-400 is a defensive system, and what is transported through Alexandroupolis is not defense equipment. “.
At the same time, the representative of the Kremlin expressed the opinion that Greece will never be an enemy for Russia, since the Russian Federation treats Greece as a partner country, a friendly country.
At the same time, according to him, Greece’s membership in NATO binds the country with certain obligations. And given that the alliance is approaching the borders of Russia, the transfer of equipment cannot but worry, Peskov emphasized.
“We see a rather hostile, as we understand it, NATO expansion towards our borders, towards Ukraine,” he said.
At the end of November, it was reported that a large-scale operation was underway in the port of Alexandroupolis to transfer American military equipment, including 120 helicopters, a thousand tanks, armored vehicles, and guns. The military will go to the countries of Eastern Europe. The mission was called the largest in the history of the United States. Washington is strengthening its presence in the Balkans and the Black Sea.
On December 10, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that there should be no further expansion of NATO, if opponents go against it, the consequences for them will be dire. According to Ryabkov, NATO enlargement has long ago entered into a very sharp and deep contradiction with this very commitment. He noted that Russia will unswervingly draw the attention of opponents, both members of NATO and not members of the alliance, but striving to join there, to “the impossibility of combining both.”
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