Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa was Thursday in Moscow on a mission to obtain Russian military hardware and loans, with Russia reportedly hoping he will recognize Georgian rebel regions in return.
On a first official visit by an Ecuadoran leader to Russia, Correa was scheduled to meet President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Cooperation between the two countries has largely been limited to banana and flower trade but Moscow has been keen to expand its presence in the oil-rich country.
"Joint projects in the sphere of oil extraction and oil processing, ore mining, power generation, agriculture and fishing" will be high on Thursday's agenda, the Kremlin said ahead of the talks.
Russian finance minister Alexei Kudrin told reporters Wednesday Ecuador had asked Moscow for a loan, without further details.
The Kommersant daily, quoting a source in the Russian finance ministry, said Thursday the cash-strapped nation sought to obtain a 200-million-dollar loan to purchase Russian-made arms.
The only arms deal to be signed during Correa's current visit will be a 22-million-dollar agreement to sell Ecuador two Mi-17 helicopters, a spokesman for Rosoboronexport, Vyacheslav Davidenko, told AFP.
He would not discuss Ecuador's interest in other arms, saying only Rosoboronexport hoped for more weapons deals with the Latin American nation.
"We are looking at further cooperation with hope," he said.
Russia and Ecuador were also set to sign a strategic cooperation agreement as well as agreements on nuclear power and telecommunications.
Kommersant said the Kremlin hoped that Correa would follow in the footsteps of his ally, Venezuela's firebrand leftist leader Hugo Chavez, who recognized the rebel Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent on an arms-shopping visit last month.
Chavez said after the visit Moscow had agreed to loan Caracas 2.2 billion dollars for the purchase of Russian tanks and rocket systems.
The Kremlin has denied a link between Venezuela's recognition of the rebel Georgian regions and the arms and loan agreements.
Until September, only Nicaragua had joined Moscow in recognising them as independent.
