ANKARA
Ukraine and Armenia on Sunday rejected allegations of involvement in a surveillance scandal in Greece that led to the resignation of the country’s intelligence leader as well as a senior adviser to the minister.
On Saturday, information emerged from Panagiotis Kontoleon, the former head of Greece’s National Intelligence Service who resigned on Friday, claiming that Armenian and Ukrainian intelligence had requested surveillance of the leader of the opposition socialist party PASOK.
Reacting to the allegations covered by the media, Ukraine’s ambassador to Athens, Sergii Shutenko, said the allegations were “dissociated from reality. “
“Let me explain that Ukraine has never asked its Greek counterpart for this,” Shutenko said on Twitter, adding that it is “a very opportune time to divert attention from the key factor: the Russian war in Ukraine. “
For its part, the Armenian embassy in Greece took to Facebook to deny the accusations, which it called a “blatant lie. “
“Armenia has never asked any government to pay attention to anyone’s phone,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nikos Androulakis, the PASOK leader amid the scandal, claimed on Twitter that not only was he being monitored through the EYP, but there was also an attempt to hack his mobile phone through Israeli-made Predator tracking software.
Referring to the denials by the Ukrainian and Armenian embassies, he accused the leaders of the ruling Nea Dimokratia of being in close collaboration with right-wing extremists to spread defamation.
“Our country and its establishments deserve this fall from which M. (Prime Minister Kyriakos) Mitsotakis is solely responsible,” he said.
Surveillance scandal
On Friday, former EYP leader Kontoleon, along with Prime Minister General Secretary Grigoris Dimitriadis, resigned following the scandal that erupted last week when the then intelligence leader told a parliamentary committee that his company was spying on journalist Thanasis Koukakis.
The committee’s closed-door hearing came after Androulakis complained to more sensible prosecutors about an attempt to hack into his mobile phone with Israeli-made Predator tracking software.
Alexis Tsipras, leader of the main opposition SYRIZA-PS party, said the resignations were an admission of guilt, while Prime Minister Mitsotakis is expected to resign on Monday.