Russia denied this Tuesday that the Soviet military equipment that Ecuador plans to deliver to the US for future transfer to Ukraine.
«The recent statements by the US authorities about their intention to transfer Russian military equipment, which Quito is going to exchange for new US equipment, to the Kiev regime, only demonstrates that these weapons are not ‘scrap’,” said today the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, cited by the agency TASS.
According to the source, Russia proposed to Ecuador “options” for cooperation for the maintenance of weapons and other equipment in “good condition«, but did not receive any response from Quito.
At the same time, he insisted that the decision to exchange the Russian teams by American weapons is “illegal.”
“The transfer of Russian (Soviet)-made military equipment previously supplied to the Republic of Ecuador without the written permission of the Russian side is illegal,” the statement said.
To Ukraine
Meanwhile, the Russian ambassador in Peru, Igor Romanchenko, assured that Washington’s attempts to convince Lima to transfer its Russian and Soviet equipment to Ukraine “were not successful.”
The United States Government confirmed last week that the Russian-made military material that it delivered to Ecuador as part of an equipment renewal agreement will be used to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“It is an arrangement to transfer equipment to the Government of Ukraine that is fighting against the Russian invasion of its territory,” said the deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the United States Department of State, Kevin Sullivan.
Sommerfeld says ‘exchange’ was already underway
In an interview with the Teleamazonas television channel, Sullivan pointed out that this exchange of military equipment is “a decision of the Government of Ecuador” with which the United States is “very happy, for supporting Ukraine in its effort to defend its territory.” .
When asked if this delivery had already been made, Sullivan commented that it is something that “is still being considered within the Government of Ecuador.”
However, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador, Gabriela Sommerfeld, assured on January 24 that this exchange was already in process and that “it does not violate any regulations, it is not illegal” because “this equipment is not operational and, If it is not operational, Ecuador can deregister it, sell it, give it away or exchange it.
Days before, the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, described the equipment as “scrap” for which his country will receive new equipment worth about 200 million dollars from the United States.
The Russian spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, María Zajárova, declared, for her part, that the decision of the Government of Daniel Noboa would damage relations between Russia and Ecuador, after Moscow suspended imports of bananas from several companies in the country for phytosanitary reasons. Latin American country.EFE
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