Greece is reportedly planning to sell Russian-made air defense systems currently used by its armed forces to Armenia, rather than supplying them to Ukraine.
The Greek news website Enikos.gr reported on Monday that Greece’s armed forces are “at an advanced stage” of phasing out their S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, along with shorter-range Tor-M1 and Osa-AK systems, replacing them with more sophisticated Israeli equipment. The report did not specify the number of units to be provided to Armenia or their total cost.
Following the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war, the Greek government resisted calls to donate its S-300 systems to Kyiv, despite already supplying Russian-made armored vehicles to the Ukrainian army. According to Enikos.gr, the decision to provide these and other anti-aircraft weapons to Armenia instead reflects a “strategic choice” based on the historically close ties between Armenia and Greece. The report also noted that this decision is “the product of cooperation with France,” which has become a key military ally for Armenia in the West.
“The Armenians have experience in [the Russian systems’] use while also having the necessary spare parts for their maintenance, something that has been the biggest problem for the Greek Armed Forces in recent years, especially after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the embargo imposed on Russia by NATO and the EU,” the publication added.
The Armenian Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report on Tuesday. However, the Armenian and Greek defense ministers agreed to deepen military cooperation during talks held in Yerevan in March.
The Armenian government announced last year that the two countries would sign an agreement on military-technical cooperation, which includes provisions for mutual transfers of defense technology and the repair of military hardware imported from “third countries.” While Greece has trained hundreds of Armenian officers at its military academies since the 1990s, it has not previously supplied heavy weaponry to Armenia.
During his March visit to Yerevan, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias emphasized the growing defense cooperation between Greece and Armenia, noting that India and France are also involved in “trilateral and quadrilateral” initiatives with Greece and India. However, he did not provide further details.
