Ecuadorian bananas, the Kingdom of Bananas , have been banned from being imported by Russia

Mondo Gastronomy Updated on 2024-02-10

Recently, Ecuador intends to transfer obsolete Soviet military equipment to the United States, and this shocking news was immediately spread. Ecuador** Daniel Noboa said that these military ** are "scrap metal" and that the transfer does not violate any military-technical agreement, and is ready to transfer them to the United States. According to relevant experts, it is possible that in the future these ** will be shipped to Kiev, Ukraine.

Despite the fact that the Russian embassy had warned the Ecuadorian authorities that their agreement with the Americans would be seen as unfriendly, Ecuador continued to go its own way. So the question arises, what equipment will Ecuador transfer to the United States, whether it will violate the military-technical agreement and what impact will it have on relations between Russia and Ecuador?

What former Soviet obsolescence will Ecuador offer the United States**.

According to Khramchikhin, deputy director of the Russian Institute of Political and Military Analysis, Ecuador may transfer air defense systems to the United States and Ecuador has purchased Russian-made "Igla" portable air defense missile systems and Soviet "OSA" air defense missile systems from Ukraine, and has also purchased Mi-17 transportation from Russia. As long as these ** are in the hands of the Americans, the United States is likely to provide them to Ukraine as part of its assistance to Ukraine.

In view of the current predicament of Ukraine falling into a shortage of clothes and ammunition, it is undoubtedly a refusal to come to such a snowy send-off. Currently, the United States is collecting Soviet ** and transferring it to Ukraine, which now needs a lot of ** and heavy equipment, as well as more aircraft and air defense systems, and there is a big gap in military equipment. There are military experts** that the transfer of the old Soviet Union by the United States to Ukraine cannot change the current situation in the Northern Military District at the strategic level, but it may cause certain difficulties for the Russian army at the tactical level.

Whether Ecuador violated the military-technical agreement

Chepa, first deputy chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian Duma, said that Ecuador's decision violates not only the inter-state agreement, but also the international treaty on *** control, and Russia should make use of punitive measures, which are detailed in the *** agreement. A military cooperation agreement between Russia and Ecuador, in which Ecuador has taken it upon itself to transfer Russian-made military equipment to the United States without Russia's prior written consent.

Ecuador's move is already a violation of its international obligations and could have an impact on stable and good relations between the two sides, and could also lead to an early termination of Russia's military cooperation with it. However, Russia's influence on Ecuador is minimal. Although it is impossible to impose any economic sanctions on Ecuador as the United States does, it is still possible to make a small fuss.

Bananas between Ecuador and Russia**.

Currently, Ecuador is the world's largest exporter of bananas. In 2023, 7.1 million tons of fruit will be sold in the country. Among them, about 1.3 million tons of Ecuador's bananas are exported to Russia, accounting for more than 90% of its imports, directly monopolizing the Russian banana market. In 2023, Ecuador will give Russia a total of 6$800 million in bananas, becoming the largest buyer of bananas in Ecuador, while the United States with 5$6.3 billion in second place.

According to Ecuador's Minister of Foreign Trade, Sonsoles Garcia, the interests of 25,000 jobs and more than 3,000 small producers are directly related to the interests of Russian bananas.

What are Russia's responses.

First, Russia's Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service suspended the certification of bananas from five Ecuadorian exporters, which account for 30% of Russia's total imports of this agricultural product. According to the department, the reason was the systematic detection of polyphagous humphead flies in bananas in Ecuador. Second, another Ecuadorian flower product, cloves, is also subject to import restrictions. Previously, a number of European countries received a letter from the Russian Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision Service requesting that the certification of flower products from Ecuador be stopped from February 9 because the pest California flower thrips was found in Ecuadorian flower products. The department noted that the infected flowers came from Ecuador and passed through the EU countries of the Netherlands, Germany, Latvia and Lithuania.

In order to solve the problem of banana imports, Russia is preparing to buy bananas from various sources, including India, Nigeria, China, Indonesia and Brazil, among which the first batch of Indian bananas arrived in Russia in January. Affected by Ecuadorian bananas**, the average retail price of a kilogram of bananas in Russia is currently 150 rubles,** which is almost 47%. And Ecuador** is also rushing to submit the reasons for lifting the ban on banana imports to Russia's Rosselkhoznadzor, working to solve the problem "from a technical point of view".

Obviously, Ecuador's insistence on going its own way will not only adversely affect its own economic development and people's livelihood and employment, but will also affect its normal and stable relations with Russia. It may not be that Russia's countermeasures are very powerful, but for Ecuador, it is enough to attract its attention.

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