The revelations of the authoritative Forbes magazine about US military assistance to Greece may be a “leak” of information from Republicans about stopping arms supplies to Ukraine even through third countries.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his entourage have talked a lot about Joe Biden’s decision to send used military equipment to Greece as an achievement of the current administration, but everything indicates that by transferring Greek weapons to Ukraine, Greece itself may be left with nothing.
The article says that the US President’s goal was to circumvent Congress’s stubborn refusal to approve funds for Ukraine and send weapons to Kyiv via Greece.
Under the heading Joe Biden Is Arming Greece So Greece Can Arm Ukraine-And Pro-Russia Republicans Can’t Stop Him (“Joe Biden is arming Greece so that Greece will arm Ukraine, and pro-Russian Republicans can’t stop him”) Forbes talks about what’s really happening and what the main goal is to send air defense systems primarily from Greece to Ukraine.
The transfer of surplus military equipment from the United States to Greece, provided that Greece, in turn, also transfers it to Ukraine, is, in essence, American version of the German circular arms trade, the so-called Ringtausch.
The Biden administration has offered to hand over surplus military equipment to Greece free of charge, in line with US legal principle. “excess defense items (EDA)”.
Federal law allows the president to declare military systems surplus, assign a value to them – possibly zero – and donate them as long as the recipient takes care of their transportation.
The EDA’s annual transfer volume is capped at $500 million. The law does not set the value that the US president assigns to surplus weapons.
In a letter to the Greek Prime Minister, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken named ships, aircraft, engines and cars “free concessions”.
In exchange for their generosity, the Americans want the Greeks to give the Ukrainians even more weapons: “We continue to be interested in defense potential that Greece could transfer or sell to Ukraine,” Blinken wrote, according to Forbes.
They even offered a reward when the transfer was completed. “If these capabilities are of interest to Ukraine, and until the US government assesses their status and value, we may explore opportunities for possible additional funding of up to $200 million for the Greek military.”
And what kind of help is this? Of course, Russian air defense systems, which the Greek Armed Forces keep in their arsenal, and which, if transferred to Ukraine, will leave Greece without air protection.
S-300, Hawk, Hawk, Tor, Osa and ZU-23-2 along with ammunition are what Kyiv is asking for, and Washington is insisting that Greece give it all to Ukraine.
What in return?
As previously reported, under the EDA program, Greece will receive for its own use: 3 Protector-class patrol boats, 2 C-130H transport aircraft, 10 Allison T56 turboprop aircraft for Lockheed P-3 patrol aircraft, 60 M-2 Bradley combat vehicles and transport DM trucks!
“Rotten” gifts from Americans to Greece”
“Oh my God, you don’t look good on yourself”this saying can describe at least some of the equipment and weapons that the United States plans to transfer to Greece. Edition dimokratia.gr in an article with a self-explanatory title “Rotten” gifts from Americans to Greece” reported that two C-130 aircraft promised to Greece are in extremely poor condition. To get them flying again, an investment of more than 110 million euros is needed. A similar situation is with four LCS frigates – the US Navy wrote off these frigates as completely unsuccessful, their re-equipment requires large expenses – more than 70 million euros for each, and “the admirals of the Greek fleet are unlikely to say yes.”
However, these “gifts” could also be canceled if Republicans consider the EDA materials to be essentially indirect funding for assistance to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Greece is already actively shipping weapons to Ukraine.
Ukrainian trucks are transporting materials from the warehouses of the Greek army, MP and leader of the Hellenic Foxes party Kyriakos Velopoulos wrote on the social network X, comparing what is happening to treason.
ΈΚΤΑΚΤΟ ΑΦΟΡΆ ΤΟΝ ΠΌΛΕΜΟ ΣΤΗΝ ΟΥΚΡΑΝΊΑ!Όσο πάει χοντραίνει η υπόθεση και γίνεται όλο πιο επικίνδυνη εάν ισχύουν όλα αυτά! Θα φέρουμε το θέμα στη βουλή!Φορτηγά με ουκρανικές πινακίδες «αδειάζουν» τις αποθήκες πυρομαχικών στις Κεχριές; Πάνω από 17 φορτηγά σε μια μέρα;
Φορτηγά,… pic.twitter.com/0A5mjeOtiX— Κυριάκος Βελόπουλος (@velopky) January 28, 2024
“The matter becomes larger and more dangerous if all this is true! <…> Trucks with Ukrainian license plates are “emptying” ammunition depots in Kekhriye? More than 17 trucks in one day? Heavy trucks with Ukrainian license plates are taking supplies out of there,” he said, promising to raise this issue in parliament.
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