Russia-Ukraine crisis: Greece backs sanctions against Russia, ready to take in Ukraine refugees, PM says

Russia’s invasion has awakened old nightmares of war as Russia attempts to dismember Ukraine, he said.

Greece, the birthplace of democracy, backs European Union sanctions against Russia and stands ready to host Ukrainian refugees, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament on Tuesday.

“Greece was always on the right side of history and we are doing the same today. For Greece there are no dilemmas, we are on the side of Ukraine, freedom and democracy.”

Russia’s invasion has awakened old nightmares of war as Russia attempts to dismember Ukraine, he said.

“The European Union was born out of the ashes of World War Two. It responded with the largest package of sanctions it has ever launched. The EU’s actions awaken the world’s public opinion, they are the intangible force of democracy,” he said.

The conservative premier called for more defence cooperation among EU countries and reiterated that defence expenditure should be exempted from the budgets of countries that, like Greece, are guarding the bloc’s external borders.

Mitsotakis said the EU must also support countries and businesses against a further jump in energy costs. Like some other European countries, Greece is heavily reliant on Russia for about 40% of its gas supplies.

Greece has prepared for a “worst case scenario where gas supplies from Russia are halted”, with a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facility off Athens being recently replenished and Greek gas suppliers lining up additional cargoes, he said.

“We cannot rule out attempts by Russia to blackmail. We all realise this...will disrupt global supplies and probably trigger a further rise in (energy) prices,” said Mitsotakis.

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