US Asks LATAM Countries to Donate Russian Weapons to Ukraine

On Thursday, Gen. Laura Richardson, the head of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), acknowledged that Washington has asked several Latin American countries to donate military equipment purchased from Russia to Ukraine.

RELATED:

US Southern Command Gen. Laura Richardson Visits Ecuador

"Speaking to the Atlantic Council, a think tank backed by NATO and funded by the U.S. weapons industry, Richardson stated that a total of nine Latin American countries have Russian equipment," outlet RT reported.

She mentioned that the Pentagon is working to replace the Russian equipment with U.S. equipment "if those countries want to donate it to Ukraine.”

Currently, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and Venezuela have Russian weapons, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

“We have a lot at stake. This region matters. It has a lot to do with national security. We need to step up our game,” SOUTHCOM Gen. Richardson said referring to Latin America.

On Friday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia questioned US attempts to urge Latin American countries to hand over available Russian-origin weaponry to Ukraine in exchange for the delivery of US equipment.

"It is hard today to imagine anything that can be a surprise," he said when commenting on this matter, adding that there are legal restrictions on operations of this nature.

"This is because any deliveries are conditioned by certain commitments of those countries that receive military equipment. Of course, we will keep a close eye on this situation," Peskov said, as reported by TASS.