The Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias made today, Thursday 21 December 2023, the following statement:
“The international community is facing a major security challenge in the region of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Attacks against commercial ships by groups of armed men, drones and missiles, constitute a huge threat against human lives, international securityand stability, world economy and citizens’ prosperity.
Greece, the country with the largest seafaring fleet, has a principal interest to preserve the freedom of the sea routes and the protection of the lives of the sailors.
Ordered by the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, I asked the Chief of HNDGS General Konstantinos Floros and the Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff, Vice Admiral Ioannis Drymousis HN, to dispatch a Frigate of the Hellenic Navy to participate in the multinational Operation “Prosperity Guardian”, for the protection of merchant ships, the lives of the sailors and the world economy.
On this issue I also briefed, during my last visit to Cairo, the Egyptian side.
It goes without saying that the Frigate which will participate in the Operation has the appropriate self-defence means”.
