Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis highlighted Greece’s increasing role as an energy hub, stating that “Ukraine gains direct access to diversified and reliable energy sources, while Greece becomes a hub for supplying Central and Eastern Europe with American liquefied natural gas.”
The agreement will “cover nearly €2 billion needed for gas imports to compensate for the losses in Ukrainian production caused by Russian strikes,” Zelenskyy said in a statement Sunday.
The deal was signed during Zelenskyy’s visit to Athens, attended by Mitsotakis, Greek Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou, and U.S. Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle. It formalized a declaration of intent between Greece’s gas company DEPA Commercial and Ukraine’s Naftogaz.
Greece aims to showcase its importance as an entry point for American LNG, bolstering Europe’s independence from Russian gas. Athens recently signed a 20-year deal to import 700 million cubic meters of U.S. LNG annually starting in 2030, aiming to boost U.S. LNG shipments to its northern European neighbors.
Ambassador Guilfoyle remarked, “What we see for the future of Greece and the United States is Greece being an energy hub and showing this energy dominance that both of our countries can experience and work together cooperatively to achieve tremendous outcomes,” in an interview with Antenna TV.
Energy Minister Papastavrou told a conference in Athens that “cooperation within the framework of the ‘vertical corridor’ may prove to be more decisive for peace and prosperity in the region than NATO.”
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