The Hellenic Parliament has ratified defense production supplies agreement with Russia 51301162

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Defence & Security News - Greece and Russia
 
The Hellenic Parliament has ratified defense production supplies agreement with Russia
ATHENS, January, 13. (TASS-DEFENSE). On January, 12 the Hellenic Parliament has ratified the agreement of December 3, 2013 with Russia, "concerning defense equipment supplies". All political parties (excluding the Communist Party of Greece, deputates of which had abstained from the voting process) voted for the ratification.
     

ATHENS, January, 13. (TASS-DEFENSE). On January, 12 the Hellenic Parliament has ratified the agreement of December 3, 2013 with Russia, "concerning defense equipment supplies". All political parties (excluding the Communist Party of Greece, deputates of which had abstained from the voting process) voted for the ratification. Russian-made SA-8 air defense system at the greek military parade in 2005 
     
The agreement establishes the procedure and general terms of defense supplies between the countries. It is applied to both newly shipped defense production and previously delivered arms. The document also adresses the maintenance issues.

Adressing the Parliament, the Greece`s minister of national defense, Panos Kammenos, noted, that the agreement "was signed to the benefit of private and state defence companies". "Greece`s geopolitical position is very important, and the country should have joint production (of defense equipment) with non-NATO nations", the minister pointed out.

The aforementioned agreement had been signed by former minister of national defense, Dimitris Avramopoulos. Its ratification was delayed due to the change of the Greece`s government.

Despite being a NATO nation, Greece has procured Russian defense production in large quantitites since 1991. According to SIPRI data, the total amount of military-technical cooperation between two countries in 1991-2014 is USD 1,1 billion. In 1998 Greece got 16 9K33 Osa (NATO reporting name: SA-8) mobile surface-to air missile (SAM) systems, approximately 500 9M33 mssiles and 16 BTR-60P armored personnel carriers. In 1999 Russia supplied Greece with 2 S-300PMU-1 (NATO reporting name: SA-20A) SAM systems and 175 5V55U (SA-10C) missiles. In 1999-2000 a large batch of air defense assets was transfered to Greece by Russia. The batch included 15 Tor-M1 (SA-15) mobile SAM systems and approximately 400 9M338 missiles. In 2000-2002 10 Tor-M1s and 250 9M338 missiles were supplied.

Greece also decided to buy 3 Russian Project 12322 (Pomornik) air-cushion landing craft (LCAC) within the prescribed period. They were supplied in 2000, 2001 and 2005, respectively.

In 2002-2004 Greece received approximately 1100 9M133 Kornet-E (AT-14) anti-tank guided missiles supplied by Russia.
     
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