Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The importance of lifting the US arms embargo & Russian armaments (VIDEO)

The Minister of Defense Charalambos Petridis spoke on the Sigma Mesimeri and Kati Show about the importance of the total lifting of the US arms embargo on the Republic of Korea.

He described the development as a historic decision, a milestone that proves the close relationship between the Republic of Korea and the USA and opens up new prospects for wider cooperation.

He pointed out that before the final decision, there was a partial lifting of the embargo and access to non-lethal weapons, while bilateral contacts with US officials preceded it throughout the previous period.

K.D as he said meets the criteria based on the EastMed Act to complete the total lifting of the embargo which will come into force on October 1 (independence day of the Republic of Cyprus) to enter the new era.

It was, he said, a gradual compliance on the issues of money laundering and restriction on the docking of Russian ships.

"Full access to the American arms market is an additional important option for the EF. We had a special relationship growing cooperation through the network of tripartite and multilateral cooperation", he noted.

Mr. Petridis said that in fact nothing terribly and immediately changes for E.F. We are in the process of drawing up a long-term realistic armaments program that takes into account the economic data of the KD. There is now full access to an additional important option and of course we will explore and consider all ways to take advantage of this new feature and consider all possibilities to deepen the cooperation. There is already an issue with Russian equipment with the embargo and restrictions in place today (after the Russian invasion of Ukraine).

We are trying to see in what way and process we will give this extra life to the existing equipment either through system revision or maintenance. But this based on the existing data is not easy

"As EF and YPAM we have joined various American programs such as IMET where officers already participate and we believe that the facts have changed and the technologies must be upgraded. The upgrading and modernization of the EF is not directed against anyone and any aid imposed as a semi-occupied homeland".

Regarding the protection of the EEZ, he said that we are not militarizing the whole process and there is cooperation with EU countries to have a greater naval presence in our region.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also spoke about Turkey's revisionism and said that the challenges are a given in the EEZ and Famagusta. "We know and are concerned about the instrumentalization of immigration and we, for our part, are exhausting all diplomatic means."

Among other things, Mr. Petridis said that we as EF are interested in the purchase of the air defense system from Israel as a work umbrella.

At the beginning of his deposition, Mr. Petridis was also asked about the investigations being carried out regarding the murder of Thanasis.