AFP - Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa was due Thursday to discuss energy and defense cooperation with Russian leaders on a visit that the media said may lead to Ecuador's recognition of Georgia's rebel regions as independent.

On a first official visit by an Ecuadoran leader to Russia, Correa, who last year said he wanted closer ties with Moscow, was scheduled to meet with the Kremlin leader 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 minining, power generation, agriculture and finishing" 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, declining further details.

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.

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.