Moscow called the possible transfer of equipment from the Russian Federation to the United States an unfriendly step

 The transfer of Russian equipment by Ecuador to the United States will be an unfriendly step. This was announced on January 11 by Russian Ambassador to Quito Vladimir Sprinchan on Russia 24 TV channel.

"The authorities of Ecuador were brought to Russia's position that the Americans did not need to send this equipment, especially since it was called scrap metal. It is needed by those who know how to handle Russian-made equipment (i.e. Ukraine. - Ed.), and we warned the authorities that this would be an unfriendly step," he said.

As the ambassador noted, diplomats are monitoring the situation, but military and technical cooperation, according to him, is a "sufficiently closed sphere." Given that the President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, announced his country's peacekeeping position on the conflict in Ukraine, sending weapons would be a contribution to one of its parties, Sprinchan added.

Earlier that day, Noboa announced his readiness to exchange old Russian equipment with the United States for a new American value of $200 million. At the same time, it was not specified what kind of equipment the Ecuadorian authorities want to exchange.

Earlier, on January 5, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said that the U.S. would not be able to transfer weapons to Ukraine from its warehouses until the U.S. Congress approved the allocation of additional funds to help Kiev. He noted that at present there are no plans to make any announcements regarding the transfer of weapons to Ukraine from U.S. warehouses.

Also that day, the head of the State Department press service, Matthew Miller, said that Washington would continue to help Kiev, but the support would not be the same as in 2022-2023.

On December 27, Washington decided to provide Ukraine with a new package of assistance worth up to $250 million, as reported by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. The final package in 2023 will include weapons and equipment, he added. On the same day, it was reported that Biden changed his position on further assistance to Ukraine and reminded his Ukrainian colleague Volodymyr Zelensky that the supply of American weapons would not be endless.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported on December 28 that the Kiev administration had accepted a new aid package from the United States with "cool gratitude." Washington provided Ukraine with a $250 million aid package, which included air defense equipment, anti-tank missiles, artillery shells and other weapons.

Western countries have increased military and financial support for Ukraine against the background of the Russian Federation's special operation to protect Donbass, which began on February 24, 2022 due to the aggravation of the situation in the region as a result of Ukrainian shelling. At the same time, recently there have been increasing statements in the West about the need to reduce support for Kiev.