Giorgos Marinos, member of the PB of the CC of the KKE and MP, made an intervention in the Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs demanding that the Minister of National Defence inform the Committee about the sending of military equipment to Ukraine and not hold a briefing behind closed doors. He stressed that the issue is crucial and linked with the dangerous involvement in the war and the US–NATO plans.

The transfer of armoured vehicles to Ukraine is another step forward in the entanglement of Greece in the imperialist war. The ND government bears heavy responsibility since the country is being sucked in the maelstrom of the conflict between NATO and Russia, which is escalating into the war in Ukraine and entails the risk of a generalization of the war in the wider region, including the Balkans, where the situation is balanced on a knife-edge.

In addition to the network of US bases in the Greek territory that are working around the clock to add fuel to the fire of imperialist war by providing weapons, troops, and information; the missions of the Greek armed forces at the side of the US aircraft carriers and bombers; and the missions abroad to develop new aggressive NATO formations such as in Bulgaria, the government plays its last card for the interests of the bourgeoisie, turning our country into a perpetrator against other peoples and the Greek people into a target.

The heavy silence on Rizospastis’ disclosure of the enormous amount of military equipment that has been sent to Ukraine by more than 20 air shipments is an admission of the government’s guilt. These include more than 2,000 rockets —even leading to the emptying of the arms depots on the Northern Aegean islands—, more than 3,000,000 cartridges, dozens of extremely expensive Stinger air-defence systems, and thousands of artillery shells and portable anti-tank missiles. The cost of all this ammunition is estimated at € 30 million.

There is also the impending transfer of dozens of BMP-1 armoured vehicles, which will be taken from units of crucial importance and supposedly be replaced by the German Marder 1A3/5 that have literally tarnished with age. Therefore, the military personnel raise reasonable concerns about the effects of the NATO bargaining for the reinforcement of the war front in Ukraine on the country’s defence.

The guilty silence of the government and the misleading, unfounded arguments it has used from the very first moment about “useless” systems further fuel these concerns, much more so when these actions are taking place in conditions of escalating Turkish aggression and claims about the demilitarization of the islands, with the argument of “NATO cohesion” providing a following wind for the Turkish bourgeoisie.

While the shipments of military equipment depart for the Ukraine front one after another, the government promotes the exorbitant arms expenditure that it is planning for the following years as an “investment in the defence of the country” in order to reinforce NATO’s “power projection” in its south-eastern wing!

That is the goal served by the French Rafale and the US F-35 orders, exactly like SYRIZA had done with Tsipras’ visit to the USA in 2017, agreeing with the then Trump administration for the F-16 upgrade.

It is once again demonstrated, as previously with the sending of the Patriot missile system in Saudi Arabia and the continuous transfer of means and personnel abroad, that the participation in NATO plans does not constitute a buttressing but a risk factor for the people, getting them caught in the eye of the storm of competition while undermining the defence of borders and sovereign rights.

The people must show no trust in the government, the bourgeoisie and its parties, and all those who imperil them for the interests of a handful of business groups. They must intensify their struggle against the policy of involvement in US–NATO plans and struggle to pave the way for the disengagement from all imperialist unions, by seizing power.

09.06.2022