Ecuador is facing a delicate situation in its relations with Russia after it decided to openly announce its intention to send its Russian weapons considered obsolete to the United States in exchange for more modern military equipment.
The government of President Daniel Noboa, who took office in November last year, claims that the measure is a way of strengthening the country's internal security, given the war it is waging against organized crime and violence. However, the decision to dispose of “Russian scrap”, as President Noboa classified the equipment in his possession, did not please the Kremlin, which accuses Quito of violating the contracts signed with the country at the time of purchasing these weapons and to give in to “pressure” from Washington.
Ecuador's idea of getting rid of Russian weapons considered old by authorities began in December 2023. In January of this year, Noboa stated for the first time clearly that he planned to exchange what he called “Ukrainian and Russian scrap” for “U.S. $200 million in modern equipment”, which would be the result of a military arms exchange agreement reached by his government with the USA.
According to local media information, which has not been confirmed by the government, among the war artifacts that must be handed over to the Americans are helicopters, rocket launch systems and anti-aircraft cannons, which were acquired by Ecuador from Russia in the 1990s and which , according to the government, are no longer suitable for use.
Russia's ambassador in Quito, Vladimir Sprinchan, was the first Kremlin representative to take a stand against sending Russian weapons to the United States. According to information from the Ecuadorian media, Moscow believes that such weapons, which Noboa claims are just “scrap”, may still be in good working order, and that the US, upon acquiring them, could want to send them to Ukraine, which could use them in the battle you are waging against the Russian forces that are still invading your territory.
“The Americans do not need this equipment, especially when it is called scrap,” said Sprinchan in January, claiming that Russian-made military equipment “those who know how to use it need it,” making a clear allusion to Ukrainian troops.
Furthermore, the diplomat emphasized at that time that Ecuador could not transfer war material without Moscow's consent, and that this was “specified in the purchase contracts”.
Making the issue even hotter, the spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, also decided to speak out earlier this month on the issue, describing Ecuador's decision as “irreflective” and having been taken under “ serious pressure from interested figures from abroad”.
Zakharova questioned the fact that Washington wants to acquire equipment that is being described as “scrap” and is offering modern weapons that cost “considerable sums” in exchange.
“We hope that Quito [também]
understand it this way”, said the Russian spokeswoman at the time.
For his part, Noboa has repeatedly defended Ecuador's right to transfer these weapons, always reaffirming that they are “scrap”. He also said that his country has no interest in severing relations with Russia because of this, but that the Kremlin's stance at this time is “not appropriate”.
Still in January, Ecuador's chancellor, Gabriela Sommerfeld, defended her country's sovereignty to “sell, donate or exchange” this type of weapons, considered obsolete. She also said that this was one of the military cooperation proposals that the United States offered to Ecuador at this time of crisis, an offer that “is not illegal”, in Sommerfeld’s words.
“Ecuador has an agreement with the United States to deliver this equipment that is no longer serving and in exchange receive equipment that is being mapped and determined by the Ministry of Defense so that it can come and help us control internal security”, noted the chancellor Ecuadorian.
Retaliation?
The diplomatic tension caused by the arms exchange agreement between Ecuador and the USA appears to have started to generate negative commercial repercussions for the South American country this week, when the Kremlin decided, through the Russian veterinary surveillance service, to impose several measures restrictions against the import of Ecuadorian bananas.
The Kremlin's surveillance service reported that it had suspended, since last Monday (5), the authorization of five Ecuadorian banana exporting companies due to the alleged detection of a “devastating insect” that was present in the fruit. Shortly afterwards, it also announced that it had applied the same measure, which came into effect from this Friday (9), to some flowers that are also imported from Ecuador.
Moscow's decision did not go down well in Quito. The Ecuadorian government, which did not buy the Russian allegation about the discovery of such a devastating insect in the fruit, saw the restrictions imposed by the Kremlin against its banana exporting companies as a measure of retaliation by Vladimir Putin's government for Noboa's decision to hand over the equipment. war that claims to be ancient to the United States, according to local media.
The Ministry of Agriculture of Ecuador has not officially commented on the case so far. However, sources involved with the matter within the department told the Ecuadorian portal Firstfruits that “high-level meetings are being held to allow the country to take a stance.”
Ironically, it appears that the Russians are seeking to “personally” target Noboa, who is considered the heir to a “banana empire” and was also born in the USA. The Ecuadorian president's family made almost all of its fortune working in the sector. Currently, Noboa Trading, a company owned by Noboa's father, Álvaro Noboa (with an estimated fortune of more than R$1 billion), is the third largest banana exporter in the country.
Representatives of Ecuadorian banana and flower exporters expressed their surprise and concern with Russia's decision. They confirmed that the products in the South American country's exportable supply currently comply with all sanitary and phytosanitary quality standards required by destination markets.
According to the portal Firstfruitsthe revenue generated by banana exports between January and November 2023 from Ecuador reached the figure of US$3.2 billion, of which US$690 million came from shipments made to Russian markets.
According to Russian media, nine out of every ten bananas imported into the country currently come from Ecuador, meaning the country led by Putin is a great partner in this sector. The Russians are also considered the second largest importer of bananas in Ecuador, behind only the European Union (EU).
Along with the banana market, Russia currently represents around 20% of Ecuador's export destination. The Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor) indicated that between January and November 2023 the country's non-oil exports to Russia totaled around US$841 million.
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