ATHENS – “The Russian invasion of Ukraine is an aggressive war against an independent and sovereign country, something that cannot be tolerated in 21st century Europe. Together with our EU partners, we reacted immediately, to the surprise of many, by imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russia and both verbally and in practice we are in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, including the historic Greek community. Unfortunately, the areas inhabited by the Greek community for millennia have received the hardest blows from the Russian invaders,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday following a meeting with his Finnish counterpart, Sanna Marin.

“The situation in the coastal area of the Black Sea is tragic and what Mariupoli suffers is beyond description. Who could have imagined that Europe today would witness such atrocities. And of course we emphasize that war crimes reports should be thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice. As you know, Greece has already asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the crimes committed in Mariupol and in the villages where the Russian airstrikes caused great losses to our compatriots from the first days of the war,” Mitsotakis underlined.

“I spoke with Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, to inform him about the recent provocative behaviour of the Turkish Armed Forces, which violated national airspace and made dangerous overflights over Greek islands such as Chios, Karpathos, Leros, and others. And of course I made it clear to NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg that this kind of behaviour by a NATO ally is totally unacceptable. It undermines the European security as well as the unity of NATO, at a time when all NATO member states need to stay united, as we have to deal with the Russian attack,” he said.

“This behaviour also undermines the progress made during my recent meeting with President Erdogan and of course it must stop immediately. We will continue to raise this issue in all international fora and I remind you that Turkey has not complied with the sanctions imposed by the EU and all NATO member states.”

“I want to point out that this is not the appropriate behaviour of a country that aspires to join the European family,” the prime minister said.