ATHENS – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Greece knows it shouldn’t transfer Russian-made S-300 missile defense systems to help Ukraine beat back the ongoing invasion with Western help.

Greece was said to be mulling the idea of sending the surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine in exchange for the United States supplying Greece with America’s Patriot defense systems.

Greece had obtained the S-300’s from Cyprus in a compromise agreement said earlier to have satisfied Russian concerns but that came with an obligation they couldn’t be sent to another country, which Lavrov said Greece has acknowledged, reported Eurasian Times.

Russia had its Ambassador meet Greek officials to remind them and Lavrov told Russian’s TV station Channel One that, “They (Greek authorities) said they were mindful of that,” requirement.

Russia’s Foreign Minister spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said the shipment of the S-300 systems to Ukraine would be “a gross violation” of deals on military-technical cooperation and the supply of military goods.

At the time, she had warned that breaching contractual obligations would undoubtedly have consequences, including a deterioration in Greece’s defense capability in the field of air defense.