US is pressuring Greece to sell some of its Mirage fighter jets to Ukraine through PURL mechanism - media
Ukraine's allies in the EU and NATO, including the United States, want Greece to sell Kyiv at least some of its Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets through the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative.
This is reported by the Greek edition of Kathimerini, Censor.NET reports.
It is noted that this is not the first time that Athens has faced pressure from NATO allies to provide Ukraine with substantial assistance, mainly by reselling some of its 25 Mirage 2000-5 fighters to intermediaries.
Journalists write that Greece is unwilling to give Ukraine modern and high-tech weapons to use against Russia. Instead, Athens prefers to provide outdated weapons, such as 60 M-110 self-propelled howitzers of 203 mm calibre, which have been used in the army since the 1960s.
The pressure to make more than just a symbolic contribution to support Ukraine comes mainly from the United States and France, as well as Eastern European countries.
For example, the US is pressuring Greece to acquire more of its own weapons systems under the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative, which has so far been largely attended by the Baltic and Scandinavian countries.
Kathimerini believes it is unlikely that Athens will do so, but if it does, Greece could sell the Mirage 2000-5 to third countries such as the US, France, Germany, the Czech Republic or Estonia. The latter has already expressed interest in purchasing some of the fighters.
After that, intermediaries will resell these aircraft to Ukraine or provide others instead.
At the same time, the publication adds that the technical support for Mirage aircraft will end in 2027, so Greece is seeking to get rid of them by purchasing 24 more modern Rafale aircraft from France.
