Russia bans imports of bananas from Ecuador after Quito’s decision to send old Soviet weapons to the US

Russia announced a ban on the import of bananas from Ecuadorweeks after Quito announced its intention to send old Soviet weapons to the United States for shipment to Ukraine.

In a statement published by Rosselkhoznadzor, the Russian veterinary and phytosanitary surveillance service, the agency claims to have “suspended” the authorization of five Ecuadorian exporters as of “February 5th”.

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This entity defends the decision due to the detection of a devastating insect.

According to Russian media, nine out of ten bananas imported into Russia come from Ecuador.

The phytosanitary service also applied the same measure “from February 9th” to certain flowers of Ecuador imported to Russia.

These restrictive measures come after the Ecuadorian president, Daniel Noboawill announce on January 10th that accepted the United States’ offer to exchange old Soviet military equipment for new generation American weapons with an estimated value of around 200 million dollars.

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Washington explained that the weapons exchanged with Ecuador would be sent to Ukraine to support its troops on the front against Russia.

This bilateral agreement aroused Moscow’s ire.

“A decision like this irresponsible “It was taken by the Ecuadorian side under strong pressure from foreign interested parties”, reported last week the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, María Zajárova.

The spokesperson also assured that Ecuador is contractually obliged “not to transfer (this equipment) to third parties without having obtained the agreement of the Russian side”.

Noboaborn in the United States, a few days ago he defended the right to Ecuador transfer these weapons that They are nothing more than “garbage” and guaranteed that Quito “will maintain its agreement in all cases”.

He Ecuadorian president He spoke in December 2023 with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodimir Zelenskyduring the inauguration of the Argentine president Javier Milei in Buenos Aires.

Since the beginning of its operation in Ukraine, almost two years ago, Moscow has sought to strengthen its economic and diplomatic ties with southern countries, especially Latin American and African countries, to try to avoid Western sanctions.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.