Russian Warships Visit Cold War Ally Nicaragua

The Russian naval tour stopped at the port of Bluefields, Nicaragua on December 12th. After donating $200,000 worth of hospital and army aid to the Nicaraguans, the Admiral Chabanenko and two support vessels departed on December 14th. Opposition forces in Russia protested the visit, citing the need for National Assembly approval before delivering military aid.

This marks the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Sandinista government that Russia has aligned itself with Nicaragua. Former Sandinista leader, Daniel Ortega, returned to power in 2007 and has since aligned itself with other leftist governments in the Central American region. On suspicions of a rigged election, the U.S. refuted a $175 million aid program to Nicaragua in early December 2008.

Nicaragua was also one of the few nations alongside Russia that recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia after the five-day Russo-Georgian War in August.

Russian officials donated generators and computers to Nicaragua on Saturday during a visit by three Russian warships to the Central American nation that opposition leaders condemned as illegal.

Russia donated about $200,000 worth of equipment to hospitals, police and the army during the stop at the southern port of Bluefields, Gen. Julio Aviles, the Nicaraguan army’s chief of staff, told state radio.

The visit by the anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and two support vessels was the first since the 1990 fall of Daniel Ortega’s Marxist Sandinista government, which allied itself with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Ortega, who returned to power in 2007, has courted Russia and has aligned Nicaragua with regional leftists, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Posted by grady

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