US STATE DEPARTMENT

'The circles encouraging Greece to deploy arms on islands with a demilitarised status have been urged to come to their senses, the MSG statement said, in a thinly veiled reference to the US.

The US State Department stated that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states must be respected and protected, and that Greece’s sovereignty over its islands is indisputable.

Moscow said that certain components of the S-400 missile systems will be produced in Turkey, the only NATO member that buys arms from Moscow and imposes no sanctions on Russia.

In line with the decades-long US position, the State Department urged the two NATO allies, Greece and Turkey, to resolve their disputes diplomatically, and to avoid inflammatory rhetoric.

The US official representative said that, 'The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected and protected. Greece’s sovereignty over these islands is indisputable.'

'While we have not seen the details of Greece and France’s multi-year defence agreement, we note that the longstanding US-Greece Mutual Defence Cooperation Agreement (MDCA) was updated in 2019 to the mutual benefit of our two nations and regional security.'

In a lengthy statement, the Defence Department clearly articulated US interests and power in the region and the crucial nature of the US-Greece military alliance.