Greek navy

The Greek navy on Wednesday extended an advisory effectively banning ship traffic off the coast of the southeastern Peloponnese that two sources said was aimed at deterring ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil off Greece.

Over the past two years an area south of Greece's Peloponnese had become a major location to circumvent sanctions against Russian oil exports. It looks like Greece has now found a way to disrupt these operations - taking place in international waters - after the Greek navy blocked off the area for naval exercises.

Greek authorities found 84 migrants arriving by sea and arrested four individuals, accusing them of being the traffickers that transported them, the coast guard said Sunday.

Both incidents occurred early Saturday, it said.

Four suspects arrested on Saturday in a police raid targeting organized crime were charged with possession of weapons and explosives on Saturday. 

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis paid tribute on Wednesday to the three Greek Navy officers who lost their lives during the Imia crisis, which brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war 28 years ago.

Greece is in talks with the US to co-produce US-designed Constellation-class frigates, Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said on Monday.
 
"We are discussing with the US the joint design and co-production of the new generation of Constellation frigates," Dendias said after a meeting with his Cypriot counterpart, Vasilis Palmas in Athens.
 

The Armed Forces' Unified Medium-Term Development and Modernization Program, which will determine procurement priorities for the next five years, is expected to take shape by the end of March.

Under the new military leadership, all Armed Forces branches will be called to draw up lists with immediate, short- and medium-term needs which will be filled depending on available money.

In celebration of St Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors, and the 1912-1913 battles of Elli and Limnos, the Greek navy is opening three of its warships to the public for organized visits, starting Monday. 

Search operations continued on Saturday in the sea region 47 nautical miles southwest of the Greek town of Pylos, southwestern Peloponnese, where a fishing boat carrying migrants sunk on Wednesday, killing at least 78 people.

A Greek navy frigate, another three ships sailing by and a Hellenic Coast Guard helicopter are taking part in the operations.

Greece will continue to supply Ukraine with ammunition of all kinds but has refused the invaded country's request to send any of its Soviet- and Russian-made air defense missile-systems (S-300, TOR-M1 and OSA-AK).