Greece urged to ask Russia for planes to extinguish fires

Former Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said that large-scale natural fires on the island of Rhodes cannot be extinguished without the help of Russia. The ex-official urged to ask Moscow for Be-200 amphibious aircraft.

“Without the Beriev” (this is how the Be-200 is called in Greece. – Note. REN TV) does not work. Let’s bow our heads and ask for help now. We’ll be given” Panos Kammenos wrote on his Twitter page.

Be-200 aircraft have been repeatedly used to extinguish natural fires in Greece.

In 2021, at the request of the authorities of this country and on behalf of Vladimir Putin, an air group was sent to Greece, which included Il-76 and Mi-8, and Greece also leased the Russian Be-200ChS for this purpose. Only this aircraft can drop water in extreme heat conditions. The Russian-made aircraft then saved the districts of Athens from disaster.

As previously reported, due to fires on the Greek island of Rhodes, 19 thousand people were evacuated. This is the largest fire evacuation operation in the history of Greece.

Fires on the island of Rhodes began on Tuesday, July 18. The situation got out of hand. Many houses burned down. According to local authorities, it may be necessary to evacuate 30,000 people.