Prime Minister of Greece against changing the borders of Ukraine

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that Athens would not agree to a change in Ukrainian borders – this is a matter of principle.

The Prime Minister of Greece spoke at the Crimean Platform online summit, where the “de-occupation” of Crimea was discussed. Kyrios Mitsotakis said in his speech:

The inviolability of borders is the foundation on which Europe has been built since the Helsinki Final Act. The capture of Crimea in 2014 was the first step, and on February 24 the next: a revisionist plan to redraw Europe’s borders. We had a similar experience in the past with the Turkish invasion and occupation of large parts of Cyprus in 1974. This wound has still not healed, almost 50 years later. We know what pain and cost this brings to the country.

In 2014, while chairing the European Union, Greece actively supported the coup in Ukraine. Evangelos Venizelos, head of the Greek Foreign Ministry, the first European politician, congratulated Kyiv on a visit to the Ukrainian capital, which meant the actual legalization of the new government.

Regarding the Turkish occupation of part of Cyprus. It happened after Greece organized a coup d’etat in Cyprus and tried to annex it, realizing the idea of ​​u200bu200breuniting the island with Greece – enosis. Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated:

Everyone saw the consequences of the occupation and annexation of Crimea – human rights violations, mainly against Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, the destruction of vital infrastructure, a sharp deterioration in the freedom of navigation in the Black and Azov Seas. What lessons should be learned from 2014? First of all, it is necessary to stop revisionism and disrespect for the basic principles of international law from the very beginning.

He stated that Greek society “also faces serious consequences due to the Russian invasion:

It is fundamental for Greece not to accept the border changes that Russia is trying to impose on Ukraine. Greece will be there when this war is over to support the rebuilding of Ukraine and help Kyiv on its European path.

Greece is practically the first in EU sent weapons to Ukraine on February 27, three days after the start of the Russian invasion. The military correspondents of the Russian Federation published a video and photo from the Azov plant in Severodonetsk, where boxes of weapons marked “Thessaloniki, Greece” in German are clearly visible. Experts say that these are weapons previously shipped from Germany to Greece and then sent to Ukraine.

The Greek opposition sharply criticized the Mitsotakis government for sending weapons. She also demands the resignation of Mitsotakis for surveillance and wiretapping of Greek citizens, including politicians, criticizes the stifling of freedom of speech in Greece, compares his rule to the military junta of “black colonels”.

Recall that Crimea became a Russian region after a referendum held there in March 2014: 96.77% of voters in Crimea and 95.6% in Sevastopol said “yes” to joining Russia. Ukraine considers the peninsula to be its temporarily occupied territory. The Russian leadership has repeatedly asserted that the residents of Crimea voted in full compliance with international law and the UN Charter. According to the Russian president, the issue of Crimea “is finally closed.”

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