MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/. Ecuador's decision to transfer Russian military equipment to the United States is reckless and was made "under serious external pressure," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Izvestia.
"Such a reckless decision was taken by the Ecuadorian side under serious pressure from external actors," she said, commenting on Quito's decision.
On January 10, the country's president, Daniel Noboa, said that Ecuador would transfer Russian-made and Ukrainian-made equipment to the United States in exchange for new equipment worth $200 million. Russia's FFederal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said that the military cooperation agreement between the Russian and Ecuadorian governments does not allow the transfer of military products to a third party without Moscow's prior written consent.
Commander of United States Southern Command Laura Richardson said in January 2023 that Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and six more Latin American countries possess Russian-made weapons and the country would be willing to swap these Russian weapons for US-made ones if said countries agree to transfer them to Ukraine.