Russian Warships Visit
Cold War Ally Nicaragua
Managua (Reuters) -
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.
The United States, which
funded rebel groups
opposed to the
Sandinistas in the
1980s, suspended a $175
million aid program to
Nicaragua earlier this
month, citing concerns
over November's
municipal elections,
which Ortega's opponents
say were rigged.
The Russian naval tour,
which includes another
old Cold War ally, Cuba,
as well as Venezuela, is
part of Moscow's bid to
rebuild its global
influence.
Opposition politicians
protested the visit,
arguing foreign military
forces were forbidden
from entering Nicaragua
without the approval of
the National Assembly.
Ortega requested
authorization for the
visit earlier in the
week, but opposition
lawmakers refused to
allow the National
Assembly to sit.
The Russian ships
arrived in Nicaragua
late on Friday and were
scheduled to depart
early on Sunday.
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