Veteran journalist and Kathimerini director Alexis Papachelas has criticised the Mitsotakis government’s handling of foreign policy, stating that Greece’s out of touch government played and lost in Ukraine. During a recent Prime Time broadcast on Skai.gr, Papachelas warned that Greek politicians are once again ignoring history—a mistake that could come back to haunt them.
He discussed the new US President, N. Trump, and the constant threats and blackmail from Turkey, highlighting how Greece put all its cards on the table in supporting Ukraine but gained neither the expected security guarantees regarding the Aegean nor the weapons systems it sought from the United States. According to Papachelas, this amounts to an admission that Greece received nothing in return for its unequivocal support of T. Biden’s administration—an outcome he deems outrageous.
In 2021, Greece signed a defence agreement with the US, granting American forces access to bases in Alexandroupolis, Stefanovikio, and elsewhere. However, no assurances were secured for the Greek Aegean Archipelago or the islands, where Turkey continues to threaten sudden incursions. This failure has deeply damaged Greek interests, given that the US does not guarantee the security of Greek territory.
Greece had also requested a transfer of four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers equipped with the Aegis system—vessels the US was expected to decommission—but was effectively turned down. Such an acquisition could have transformed Greece’s naval strength in the Aegean, countering Turkey’s neo-Ottoman ambitions and posing a formidable threat to key Turkish infrastructure, including targets in Smyrna and along the Bosphorus.
Athens’s one-sided support for Ukraine, by sending arms, ammunition, and other aid, led Moscow to label Greece an enemy state, even as Turkey maintained a strategic balancing act with both superpowers. If the new US President N. Trump succeeds in achieving peace in Ukraine, Papachelas cautions that relations between Russia and the US may normalise, leaving Greece isolated and with damaged ties to the world’s second-most powerful military force.
Greece cannot afford to disregard the importance of Russia, regardless of its differing security alliances, especially since Moscow exerts influence from the Black Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean and as far as North Africa (Libya). Papachelas draws a parallel with the late Eleftherios Venizelos’s ill-fated 1919 campaign in Ukraine, which enabled the communists in Moscow to bolster Kemal with arms and funds, ultimately contributing to the collapse of the Greek front in Asia Minor.
Greek politicians, he argues, must heed the lessons of the past and avoid repeating such errors. Papachelas also notes that President N. Trump will naturally prioritise America’s interests—addressing its immense $36 trillion debt, immigration issues, and domestic security—while supporting any ventures that benefit the US financially.
In this shifting geopolitical landscape, Greece must adapt with an independent foreign policy, rather than relying on alliances that yield no tangible gains. Papachelas’s critique underscores the Mitsotakis government’s frequent policy reversals and highlights a broader failure to establish coherent, goal-oriented strategies—particularly in matters as critical as national defence and regional stability.
