Chechnya threatens to arm Mexico in response to US Congress call for Ukraine lethal aid

Chechnya's Parliament has threatened to send armaments to Mexico, in response to a US congressional resolution calling for "lethal aid" to be sent to Ukraine.

If the US were to supply "lethal military assistance" to Ukraine, the semi-autonomous region in southern Russia would send "the most modern weapons to Mexico" to prompt the resumption of negotiations on "US-annexed territories that now house […] California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and a part of Wyoming," reports the Moscow Times, citing a statement released by the speaker of the Chechen Parliament.

Mexico ceded the region to the United States in an 1848 treaty, ending the Mexican-American War.

In exchange, the United States paid Mexico $15m (£10m), as well as taking on $3.25m in debt the Mexican government owed US citizens.

In the 1853 Gadsden Purchase, the United States bought the remaining areas of what are now New Mexico and Arizona for $10m.

Chechnya declared it would support "resistance fighters" in the states formerly part of Mexico.

"We reserve the right to conduct conferences in Russia, Mexico and the US to raise the question of breaking away the above mentioned states from the US, and [about] supplying weapons to resistance fighters there," declared the statement, which was published on the legislature's website.

Hundreds of Chechens have formed the 'Death Brigade' in east Ukraine, to support pro-Moscow rebels.

On 23 March, the US Congress passed a non-binding resolution, calling on US President Barack Obama to send "lethal aid" to Ukraine, where pro-Moscow rebels are battling government forces in the east of the country.

Lawmakers in the Russian Duma condemned the decision.

"If [President] Barack Obama follows the suggestions formulated by the Congress, there will be no difference between him and George W. Bush, John McCain or Mitt Romney," Foreign Committee Committee Chief Aleksey Pushkov told TASS.