Ecuador announced on Monday that it was abandoning the supply of Soviet-era weapons to Ukraine via the United States, after a promise to do so drew the ire of Moscow and a ban on the import of Ecuadorian bananas to Russia, AFP and Agerpres said. .

A demonstration against Russian aggression in Ukraine was held in Quito (Ecuador).Photo: Dolores Ochoa / AP / Profimedia

“Ecuador will not send any military materials to a country participating in an international armed conflict,” Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld assured a parliamentary committee.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced in January that he had agreed with Washington to trade old Russian military equipment for new American-made weapons to fight drug-trafficking gangs.

The United States clarified that the weapons exchanged by Ecuador will then be sent to Ukraine to help it on the battlefield against Russia. This agreement angered Moscow.

Russia, one of the main consumers of Ecuadorian bananas, immediately announced a ban on banana imports by five Ecuadorian exporters on the pretext of the presence of a harmful insect.

A similar measure was applied to Ecuadorian flowers exported to Russia. Moscow later reversed its decision.

According to the Ecuadorian Association of Banana Exporters (AEBE), Russia is the second destination for Ecuadorian bananas, with 21% of total exports, after the European Union (28%).

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