Greek communists protest country's involvement in Ukraine War with banners on the Acropolis

communist party of greece KKE Acropolis

Two anti-war banners relating to Ukraine, one in English and one in Greek, was hung by members of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) on the Acropolis in Athens.

KKE Acropolis

KKE Acropolis

The two banners read the slogan in Greek and English "No To War. No Involvement. No To The Bases Of Death."

Dozens of party members also held red flags.

Athens is not planning to send more military equipment to Ukraine, Greek Defence Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos said last month.

He said Greece’s defence of its own territory should not be weakened, particularly on islands, by sending more weapons.

“The defence equipment we sent to Ukraine came from our stocks. There is no issue of sending more,” he told Greek lawmakers in a parliamentary discussion.

The Greek government has already sent to Ukraine two C-130 transport aircraft loaded with military aid, such as Kalashnikov rifles and portable rocket launchers.

It is also recalled that in early April, KKE blasted the “Russian invasion”  of Ukraine as one of the “most atrocious and barbarous.”

“The murders of civilians is the most atrocious and barbarous picture of the imperialistic wars from whenever it comes from wherever they take place, either now in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion or in the past in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere with the responsibility of USA and NATO,” said the KKE regarding the “murders of civilians in the town of Bucha in Ukraine.”

“The condemnation of such abhorrent acts should be total without selective ‘sensitivities’ that lead to the acquittal of the crime of one or the other camps of ‘robbers’,” concluded KKE in its announcement.

Kyiv accused the Russian military on Sunday of having committed a “massacre” in Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv recently retaken by Ukrainian troops, where the bodies of civilians were found in the streets.

Bucha, a commuter town of around 37,000 outside Kyiv, as well as the nearby town of Irpin, saw fierce fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

The town was occupied by the Russian army on the third day of the war, on Feb. 26, and remained inaccessible for more than a month.

Shelling stopped on Thursday and Ukrainian forces were only able to fully enter the town a few days ago.

AFP journalists on Saturday saw massive holes left by shells in apartment blocks, numerous wrecked cars, and streets littered with debris or downed power lines.

Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, the Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov pointed out that Russian troops left the city on March 30, as confirmed by the city’s Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk.

Konashenkov argued that if killings of civilians had taken place as claimed, then it should have been mentioned by Fedoruk when he announced that there were no more Russian troops in Bucha.

“All Russian units completely withdrew from Bucha on March 30,” the day after peace talks between the two sides in Turkey, said the official.

He added: “Moreover, on March 31, the mayor of Bucha, Anatoly Fedoruk, confirmed in his video message that there was no Russian military in the city, but he did not even mention any local residents shot in the streets with their hands tied.”

Konashenkov said the footage emerged four days later with the arrival of Ukrainian security forces and reporters.

He questioned the condition of the bodies that the footage shows, asserting that they lacked the signs of decay that should have taken hold over the four days during which they had allegedly been dead.

“All the photos and videos published by the Kyiv regime, allegedly testifying to some ‘crimes’ of Russian servicemen in the city of Bucha, Kyiv region, are another provocation,” Konashenkov said.

He denied that any residents of the city had suffered any “violent actions” while Russian troops were there, adding that they were allowed to flee towards Belarus as Ukraine was shelling the other directions.

The official also said Russian forces had distributed 452 tons of humanitarian aid to civilians in the region’s settlements.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on the international organisations on Sunday to send their experts to the country as soon as possible to collect evidence of war crimes committed by the Russian troops.

The Russian war against Ukraine, which started on February 24, has been met with international outrage, with the EU, US, and Britain, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

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