BUENOS AIRES, JAN 30 Ecuador will transfer the old Russian technology, despite Moscow’s position, the country’s President Daniel Noboa said in an interview with the Ecuavisa TV channel.
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"Delivery will be carried out. They (the Russian side — editor's note) refer to the fact that this is military equipment. We proved that it was scrap metal. Within the framework of international agreements, it is impossible to transfer military equipment, but such scrap metal is possible,” he said.
Noboa added that his country will not break off relations with Russia. At the same time, he called Moscow’s position “not entirely adequate,” since large-scale unrest is currently taking place in Ecuador.
“And if they want to help us, God grant that they do it,” the president said .
In early January, Noboa announced his readiness to exchange old Russian and Ukrainian equipment for new equipment from the United States. The cost of the latter is estimated at $200 million. However, he did not specify what kind of equipment Ecuador wants to exchange — military or civilian. It is known that the country uses Soviet Mi-171E helicopters and Igla MANPADS. However, the transfer of military equipment to third countries is usually prohibited by the terms of contracts.
In turn, Moscow notified Ecuador that such a move would be considered unfriendly. According to the Russian Ambassador to Quito, Vladimir Sprinchan, this equipment is needed not by the Americans, but by “those who know how to handle it” (meaning Ukraine. — Ed.). The diplomat added that sending the so-called scrap metal would be a contribution to the conflict in Ukraine “on one side.”
Local media wrote a year ago that the government of ex-President Guillermo Lasso was considering transferring Russian equipment to Ukraine, but no concrete actions followed. In 2023, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, at a meeting with the Ambassador of Ecuador in Moscow, Juan Fernando Holguin Flores, expressed the hope that Quito would not supply weapons to Kyiv.