Colombia will not deliver Russian weapons to Ukraine, a resolution welcomed by Russia

The US asked Colombia to donate Russian weapons to Ukrainea request that was finally denied by the South American country, a resolution that was celebrated by the Russian embassy in Bogotá.

“We highly value the statements by President Gustavo Petro that the Russian military equipment used by the National Army they will not be delivered to Ukraine”, indicated the Russian embassy this Wednesday in Twitter.

Petro admitted on Tuesday that the United States made such a request but refused due to a constitutional order “in the international arena” that obliges governments to promote “peace.”

The Colombian president explained _from the Summit of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), which is being held in Argentina_, that Colombia bought several years ago “russian war material” whose “sustainability” is complicated since that country invaded Ukraine, details the agency Afp.

General Laura “Richardson and other people from the United States, they asked me to solve the problem of our inability to sustain those active elementswe handed them over and that they took them to Ukraine,” Petro said.

But “no such Russian weapon that is useless on our land today will be used today in that conflict.”asserted the Colombian president when asked by a journalist.

Last week, the head of the US Southern Command suggested that Latin American countries donate Russian equipment to Ukraine, in exchange for replacing it with american arsenal.

Richardson did not specify which countries are included in the request.

“Latin America instead of playing to see which military bloc remains (…) what it should demand immediately is peace. That the pertinent dialogues be built so that this war ends. We are not with anyone, we are with peace,” declared Petro from Buenos Aires.

Colombia, the White House’s main ally in the region, has worked jointly with the US for almost half a century in the failed fight against drug trafficking, of which Petro has been fiercely critical.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022 and is part of the Russo-Ukrainian war, which began in 2014. (I)