Greece Planning to Sell Russian-made Air Defense Systems to Armenia

ATHENS — Greece is reportedly planning to sell Russian-made air defense systems used by its armed forces to Armenia, instead of supplying them to Ukraine.

The Greek news website Enikos.gr reported on Monday that the country’s armed forces are “at an advance stage” of abandoning their S-300 surface-to-air missiles and more short-range Tor-M1 and Osa-AK systems and replacing them by more sophisticated Israeli equipment. It said nothing about the number of such units due to be provided to Armenia or their total cost.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Greek government resisted calls for donating its S-300 systems to Kyiv in addition to Russian-manufactured armored vehicles supplied to the Ukrainian army. According to Enikos.gr, the government’s decision to provide this and other anti-aircraft weapons purchased from Russia in the past to Yerevan instead is a “strategic choice” reflecting historically close links between Armenia and Greece. It is also “the product of cooperation with France,” which has emerged in recent years as Armenia’s main military backer 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,” added the publication.

The Armenian Defense Ministry refused to comment on the report on Tuesday. The Armenian and Greek defense ministers agreed to deepen military ties between their countries during talks held in Yerevan in March.

The Armenian government announced last year that the two sides will sign an agreement on military-technical cooperation that calls, among other things, for mutual transfer of defense technology and repair of military hardware imported from “third countries.” Greece has trained hundreds of Armenian officers at its military academies since the 1990s but is not known to have supplied any heavy weaponry to the South Caucasus country until now.

During his March visit to Yerevan, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said India and France are also engaged in “trilateral and quadrilateral” defense cooperation with Greece and Armenia. He did not elaborate.