Greece ready to give S-300 air defense missile systems to Ukraine only for US Patriots.

Greece is ready to send its Russian-made S-300PMU1 air defense systems to Ukraine but only under one condition, Minister of Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos stated: the supply of Patriot missiles by the U.S. that would be deployed on the island of Crete to protect the Greek island from Turkey.
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Greek Russian-made S-300PMU1 air defense missile system. (Picture source: Twitter/UaPosition)

The Greeks are ready to transfer to Ukraine not only their S-300 air defense systems but also their Tor-M1 and Osa-AKM air defense systems. The first two systems are of great interest to Ukraine, as repeatedly stated by President Zelensky, but Osa is not needed because the Ukrainians consider this system as really outdated. The Greeks are only open to an exchange of their S-300PMU1 air defense missile systems for the American-made PATRIOT air defense systems, nothing else.

The Greeks also want to get rid of their remaining old BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles by sending them to Ukraine, but also only in exchange for German-made Rheinmetall Marder infantry fighting vehicles. In general, no one wants to give anything away for free, despite Zelensky’s statements that the Ukrainian army is closing Europe from the Russian aggressor with its chest.

Currently, the armed forces of Greece are equipped with two batteries of Russian-made air defense missile systems S-300PMU1 NATO code-named SA-20 Gargoyle.

The S-300PMU1 is an export variant of the Russian-made S-300P was developed between 1985 to 1989 and was first shown at the 1992 Moscow Air Show.

The S-300 PMU1 mobile multichannel air defense missile system can defeat modem and future aircraft, strategic cruise missiles, tactical battlefield ballistic missiles, and other targets with a reflective surface up to 0.02 sq. m. flying at speeds up to 2.800 m/s in massive enemy air raids and heavy clutter and severe ECM environments.

In addition to the 5V55R, 48N6E and 48N6E2 missiles launched by the S-300P, the S-300PMU-1 can launch two new missiles, the 9M96E1 and 9M96E2. Both are significantly smaller than the previous missiles at 330 and 420 kg and carry smaller 24 kg warheads.