Greece undecided on international Russian war crimes tribunal
Greece has not yet decided if it will support the creation of an international tribunal for crimes of aggression in Ukraine, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during a visit to Estonia on Tuesday.
Greece has provided military aid to Ukraine but does not talk about it publically, Mitsotakis said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform).
"We have not been, in principle, supporting a blanket ban for Russians visiting the European Union. But we have really suffered as Greece, as a tourists destination, we sided with the European Union on all the sanctions packages because practically nobody from Russia came to Greece this summer," he told reporters.
He also spoke about the siege of Mariupol, a city with a historically large Greek community.
"There were 100,000 Ukrainians of Greek origin living around Mariupol. So we deeply care about what is happening to that part of Ukraine. So we took our decisions very quickly in spite of the fact that Greece has traditionally friendly relations with the Russian people - I make a distinction between the people and the government. We will stick to this path and we will always be supportive of European actions to put maximum pressure on Russia," the Greek prime minister said.
Kallas called for air defense to be sent to Ukraine.
"Instead of fighting soldiers on the battlefield, Russian missiles target ordinary citizens. This is terrorist tactics. Yesterday's attacks on Kyiv and on Ukrainian critical infrastructure is yet another example of it. Hundreds of thousands of households left without electricity, many left without water," she said.
The Estonian prime minister also called for support for a tribunal.
"And we must focus on accountability. Many ask how come Russia has reached this point of pure barbarism, possibly genocide. My answer is clear - because there have been tribunals of Tokyo and Nuremberg, but there was no tribunal of Moscow for crimes of aggression and crimes of the communist regime. Russia has drawn all the wrong conclusions from this."
Welcomed my good colleague PM @kmitsotakis in Tallinn.#Estonia and #Greece are close friends and allies.
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) November 1, 2022
Spoke about our steadfast support to #Ukraine. We'll continue as long as necessary. We understand well why aggression must not pay off anywhere.
https://t.co/KWf1kkl9Ae pic.twitter.com/Wcj0hWpYyX
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Editor: Helen Wright, Merili Nael
Source: Aktuaalne kaamera
