Moscow said Quito was "thoughtless" and in breach of contract when it delivered Russian-made military equipment to the United States.
"Our partners are well aware of the terms of the contract, including the obligation to use the supplied equipment for the stated purposes, not to transfer it to a third party without Russia's consent," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on February 2.
The statement was made by a Russian official when commenting on information that Ecuador plans to transfer to the US some old Russian-made military equipment in exchange for new weapons worth more than 200 million USD from Washington.
"They made such thoughtless decisions due to great pressure from outside," she said.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa stressed last month that Ecuador was only exchanging “scrap” and not weapons that could be used in war, so it did not violate international treaties on arms transfers. He did not specify the military equipment that would be exchanged with the US.
The Ecuadorian army currently possesses a number of weapons produced by the Soviet Union and Russia, such as the Mi-171E transport helicopter and the Igla shoulder-fired air defense missile.
Ecuadorian Mi-171E helicopter in Guayaquil city in July 2015. Photo: Airliners
Russian Ambassador to Ecuador Vladimir Sprinchan warned that Moscow would consider any arms transfers to Washington an “unfriendly move.” Deputy Chairman of the Russian Senate Defense Committee Viktor Bondarev said that arms exchanges with the United States would cause Ecuador to lose its neutrality in the Ukraine conflict, stressing that Ukraine could dismantle its military equipment for spare parts.
General Laura Richardson, commander of the US Southern Command, revealed last year that Washington was looking for old Soviet-made weapons from many countries around the world. The US wanted these countries to provide direct aid, or indirect transfers to Kiev in exchange for Washington-made equipment.
Pham Giang (According to Reuters, RT, Sputnik )
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