Russia is concerned about the concentration of US troops in Greece

 

 Russia is concerned about the concentration of US troops on Greek territory and the transfer of military equipment to Eastern Europe via the Greek port of Alexandroupolis, Russian President Dmitry Peskov's spokesman told Greek television ANT1.

The interview took place on the eve of a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Sochi. The TV channel aired it in its entirety on Friday night. The correspondent of the Greek TV channel commented that Moscow has expressed concern about the new defense agreement between Greece and the United States and asked what worries Russia in this cooperation.

 "The problem is very simple. More and more NATO and US troops are concentrating on your territory. You are transporting hundreds and thousands of units of military equipment through Alexandroupolis and so on. You are opening new bases for NATO, and at the same time NATO is calling us an enemy. "And NATO is formulating the main goal of the Alliance, which is nothing more than deterring Russia. This worries us. You need to understand us," Peskov said.

Noting that Greece is equally concerned about supplying Russian S-400 air defense systems to Turkey and when asked what might answer that, Peskov said the S-400 is a defense system.

 "What is transported through Alexandroupolis is not defensive equipment. I would say so," Peskov said.

Greece has previously acknowledged that the S-400 is a defensive weapon, the TV channel recalls.

Asked if the Russian president's spokesman thought Greece could become hostile to Russia, Peskov said: "No, never."

"But Greece is bound by obligations arising from NATO membership. This is the problem with NATO, that it is approaching our borders. We see, as we understand it, a very hostile expansion of NATO to our borders, to Ukraine," he said.

 Asked what reaction he expects from Greece if the EU imposes sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, Peskov said: "I reiterate that Russia treats Greece as a partner, as a friendly country, and we would like to continue in this way. He noted that Greece is a sovereign state and has the right to make sovereign decisions, thus answering the question of whether it expects Greece to pursue a policy different from that of the EU.