ATHENS – SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras met with US Ambassador to Greece George Tsunis on Tuesday.

Tsipras welcomed Tsunis, and said his party supports the promotion of the Greece-US strategic dialogue, “with emphasis on economy and energy.”

The main opposition party leader stressed “the need for the two countries’ strategic-defense relations to be developed on a mutually beneficial basis, with tangible commitments for Greece’s defense,” expressing “his disagreement with the recent revision of the bilateral defense agreement,” which he said stands “without substantive US commitments to support the country in the face of provocative violations of International Law by Turkey,” Syriza noted.

Tsipras expressed his strong opposition to Greece sending weapons to Ukraine, such as “heavy weaponry, coming from critical military positions on [Greek] islands and on the country’s border.”

He further clarified that “if there are concessions to the detriment of Greek interests in the event that Finland and Sweden join NATO, as Stoltenberg’s statements show, the stance of Greece’s main opposition and also the country’s future government will be negative.”

Tsipras also stressed the need for the US to directly condemn overflights and violations in the Aegean, and to freeze the sale of F16s to Turkey, as “the US can not give aircraft to Turkey in order to violate International Law by overflights over Greek islands.”

Finally, he noted the need for the US to pressure Turkey to open communication channels with Greece in order to avoid further escalation of tensions and return to a spirit of dialogue.