Unprecedented blow to US, Ukraine as Ecuador cancels crucial arms deal
3 Min Read
Plans to exchange outdated Soviet weapons for new arms from the US were cancelled after learning that the old arms would have been delivered to Ukraine.
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Ecuador President Daniel Noboa speaks during a ceremony to deliver equipment to police, at the Gral. Alberto Enriquez Gallo police school in Quito, Ecuador, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. (AP)
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced on Friday that plans to send outdated Soviet weapons in exchange for new arms from the US were canceled after learning that the old arms would have been delivered to Ukraine.
"To our surprise, the United States has communicated publicly that it will take (the arms) for the armed conflict in Ukraine, in which we do not want to take part, nor do we want to triangulate weapons for it," Noboa told CNN in an interview clip shared on Thursday. "We can't go ahead with it."
"Russia is our third-largest commercial partner, and in this particular case they were right, we would have been triangulating arms and we won't do that," Noboa added.
Read more: Russia says Ecuador's weapon transfer to US unacceptable
When the plan was initially announced in January, Noboa was considering moving forward with it as he believed it would help address the nation's deteriorating security situation, which is grappling with rampant gang activities.
The US was planning to give Ecuador $200 million worth of new weaponry in exchange for what Noboa referred to as "junk" arms.
"They (Russia) claim that it is war equipment, but we have proven that it is junk. And according to international agreements, war equipment cannot be transported in this way, but this kind of scrap can," Noboa said in an interview on January 30.
"We are not going to break relations with Russia. I believe that the position they are taking is not an appropriate position, because we are also experiencing a war here," he added.
The statements later sparked criticism from Russia's spokeswoman for the country's Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, who described Ecuador's decision as "hasty" and said that if they truly were "scrap", the US would not have exchanged them for their own weapons.
Read more: Russian FM spox: Ecuador caving in to US demands is rash
So far, despite several high-ranking US officials visiting Ecuador in recent weeks to discuss cooperation on security issues, US authorities have still no information regarding the policy change, a spokesperson at the US Embassy in Quito stated.
It is worth noting that Ecuador is known to utilize Soviet Mi-171E helicopters and Igla man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS). In 2023, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov met with Ecuadorian Ambassador to Russia Juan Fernando Holguin Flores and expressed optimism that Ecuador would refrain from supplying weapons to Ukraine.
