ST.PETERSBURG. July 19 (Interfax-Northwest) - The Greek Defense Ministry intends to sign a contract on the purchase of ships from the Almaz shipbuilding company, St. Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev said following a meeting with General Georgios Antonakopoulos, chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff.
The contract has not yet been signed, but a preliminary understanding has been reached on the purchase of fire fighting ships as well as Zubr vessels, he said.
Antonakopoulos said during the talks that Greece was restructuring its Armed Forces and needed new weapons systems. He said that Greece had purchased and was planning to continue purchasing high-class weapons systems from Russia.
Greece is among the countries that cooperate closely with the Russian Armed Forces, Antonakopoulos said. He stressed the importance of cooperation with the Almaz company and noted that Greece got the chairmanship on defense policy issues in the Council of Europe on July 1, 2002.
A Russian-Greek group has been established to act in this sphere, the general noted. The group will hold its sessions in both countries.
Antonakopoulos said he had met with Russian Armed Forces Chief- of-Staff Anatoly Kvashnin in Moscow. "We agreed that it was necessary to expand military ties, our cooperation should have an applied nature and not be limited to words only," he said.
The Almaz company carried out comprehensive modernization of two air-cushion landing craft of Project 1232.2 (Zubr class) in 2001 at the Greek order. The vessels were handed over to the Hellenic National Defense Ministry in May and August 2001. "This was Russia's first export supply of vessels of such class because in the Soviet times Project 1232.2 was one of the most classified developments in the domestic shipbuilding industry," an Almaz official told Interfax-Military News Agency
The Zubr (Project 1232.2, NATO designation Jaeger) is intended for transportation of marines with armament and combat equipment and their landing on rough shores. Its length is 56.2m, width 22.3m and displacement 550t. The ship is operational if sea swell does not exceed four points. The crew is 31 people.
The vessel can carry three T-80 tanks or eight BMP2 IFVs or 10 APCs or 140 marines. Maximum endurance is 600 miles with a speed of 60 knots. Armament includes two multiple launch rocket systems and two 30mm six-barrel air defense artillery systems.