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With one of the largest groups of Latin Americans in Ukraine and with an important commercial exchange with Russia, which is around 1,600 million dollars a year, Ecuador considers itself “directly affected” by the war between these two countries.
This was expressed in an interview with Efe by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, Juan Carlos Holguín, when making an evaluation of the situation of the more than 800 Ecuadorians residing in Ukraine.
“In this war, Ecuador is a third party directly affected,” and the repercussions of the conflict have been concentrated in the process of evacuating compatriots from Ukraine, said the foreign minister, whose government has been firm in condemning the Russian operation in Ukrainian territory.
The chancellor @juancaholguin explains to the media the work of the situational room for monitoring each case, one by one, of Ecuadorians ???????? who are at borders.#AllSave ???? pic.twitter.com/jiIOOGqC5j
– Foreign Ministry of Ecuador ???????? (@CancilleriaEc) March 2, 2022
According to figures from the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry, more than 700 Ecuadorians have already managed to leave Ukraine for neighboring countries, but more than a hundred still remain, some of whom are trapped in high-risk areas, while others have decided to stay.
This is “a war that has come to us directly” and that compromises many compatriots, since more than 2,000 Ecuadorians also reside in Russia, who have also been suggested to return to Ecuador, as a preventive measure in the event of a escalation of the conflict, Holguín pointed out.
And it is that for the Ecuadorian foreign minister, “in war there is no winner” and its effects can have global repercussions and reach a South American country like Ecuador, he added.