"Greece refuses to supply Ukraine with tanks", this is the headline that dominated most of the Russian media, not by chance, since our country has a large number of this type of German-made tanks.
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"Greece will not supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine, the Greek television channel ERT reported. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis explained the refusal to provide Leopards to Kyiv with strained relations with Turkey.
"We cannot provide Leopard-2 tanks for the simple reason that they are absolutely necessary for our own defense strategy," Mitsotakis said during a working visit to Japan.
Currently, Greece-Turkey relations have escalated again due to a long-standing dispute over the ownership of maritime areas in the Aegean Sea.
Greece has more Leopard tanks than any other European country, about 350 Leopard 2 and 500 Leopard 1,” Russian media reported.
European media are discussing the possibility of sending tanks to Ukraine from EU countries, some countries have announced their readiness to transfer them to the Ukrainian army.
In addition to Germany, Poland and Finland, Spain, Greece and Denmark have Leopard tanks.
“Greece was among the first to send weapons to Ukraine on February 27, 2022, a few days after the start of the war in Ukraine, sending 40 tons of equipment via Poland on two C-130 aircraft.
After that, Greece sent new batches of weapons and military equipment. The transport of 40 East German BMP-1 type armored infantry vehicles received by the Greek army in 1994 is also planned.
In return, Greece will receive from Germany an equal number of German-made Marder armored fighting vehicles. The first BMP-1s were sent to Ukraine in the fall", reports the Russian news agency Ria Novosti accurately, without the Greek side having reported anything similar, confirming the shipment of 40 tons of equipment to Ukraine.
Be that as it may, Athens's refusal satisfied Moscow, even on the occasion of Turkey, with which the Russians are now close allies and are planning their own plans in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, especially with regard to hydrocarbons.
Information carries the examination of the serious issue for the Greek army of modernizing a large number of tanks concerning various types (Leo 2A4, Leo 1A5), for after the national elections in the Spring.
The major modernization program for Leopard tanks is likely to reach €1 billion if and when it is decided to upgrade all of both the Leopard 2A4s and the older Leopard 1A5s.
We are talking about the upgrade of 183 Leo 2A4 tanks, 500 Leo1A5 tanks, which in combination with the Leopard 2 HELs, will have in their sights every enemy trick especially in Evros.
