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Greek government denies planning to cut defence spending

ATHENS (Reuters) - The Greek government said on Wednesday it had no plans to cut defence spending, appearing to contradict a letter sent by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to creditors a day earlier offering to "reduce the expenditure ceiling for military spending". Tsipras' office issued a one-sentence statement saying: "There is not, there was not and there will never be a proposal by the Greek government to cut defence spending." It appeared to be a response to Greek media reports that the junior partner in Tsipras' ruling coalition, led by Defence Minister Panos Kammenos, was angry at the concession made in a last-ditch bid to salvage a bailout deal. Tsipras' letter, seen by Reuters on Wednesday, proposes to "reduce the expenditure ceiling for military spending by 200 million euros in 2016 and 400 million euros in 2017 through a targeted set of actions, including a reduction in headcount and procurement." (Reporting by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos; Writing by Matt Robinson)