MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. Russia will keep a close eye on the US attempts to urge Latin American countries to hand over weapons to Ukraine, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

The Russian presidential spokesman thus commented on a statement by a Pentagon representative that Washington was working with nine Latin American countries to urge them to hand over available Russian weapons to Ukraine in exchange for the delivery of US equipment.

Responding to a question about whether this news came as a surprise for Moscow, the Kremlin spokesman said: "In general, it is hard today to imagine anything that can be a surprise."

"Here it is very important [to bear in mind] the legal restrictions of any deliveries to third countries. This is because any deliveries are, of course, conditioned by certain commitments of those countries that receive military equipment," Peskov pointed out.

"Of course, we will keep a close eye on this situation," the Kremlin press secretary said.

Commander of the US Southern Command General Laura Richardson announced on Thursday that Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and six other Latin American countries had Russian military equipment and Washington was working "to replace that with US equipment if those countries want to donate it to Ukraine."