Romanian President Iohannis names conditions for transferring Patriot SAMS to Ukraine
The decision to provide Ukraine with the Romanian Patriot air defense system must be made by the Supreme National Defense Council.
This was stated by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Censor.NET reports citing European Pravda.
The Romanian president noted that he did not want to discuss the issue of the possible transfer of the Patriot system to Ukraine "in public space" and would prefer to discuss it with military experts and the Supreme National Defense Council, an advisory body to the head of state.
Johannis also emphasized that the transfer of Patriot is a complicated process that involves a number of logistical and legal issues, "not to mention that I do not agree under any circumstances that Romania should be left without missile and air defense."
"So, if Romania makes a compromise giving up something, it has to get something else. Otherwise, nothing will be done," the Romanian president added, pointing out that there is ‘no time horizon’ for this decision.
Earlier, during a visit to the United States in May, Iohannis said that Romania might consider transferring one of its Patriot systems to Ukraine. Subsequently, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, commenting on the possibility of providing Ukraine with a Patriot, said that the Ministry of Defense had serious reservationsabout this.
