Thursday 25 September
2008, San José, Costa
Rica
Russia to
Modernize Nicaraguan Military's Arsenal
Guatemala Welcomes New
Law
Chavez: Latin America Is
in Revolution
Social Tensions Heat up
in Peru
Unasur To Probe Into
Bolivian Violent
Conflict
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Russia to Modernize
Nicaraguan Military's
Arsenal
MANAGUA (AP) — Russia's
ambassador to Managua
said Wednesday that his
country will replace the
Nicaraguan army's aging
weaponry.
Ambassador Igor S.
Kondrashev said there
are no plans, however,
to expand the Central
American country's
military arsenal.
Nicaragua acquired most
of its arms and military
equipment from the
former Soviet Union in
the 1980s, when the
leftist Sandinista
government was fighting
U.S.-backed rebels. The
army has insisted it
needs new helicopters
and Navy ships to patrol
Caribbean waters, where
there is a boundary
dispute with Colombia.
Kondrashev made the
comments in an interview
with Canal 8 TV station,
but he did not say if
Russia would ask for
financial compensation
or would simply replace
the equipment as a gift
to Nicaragua — which was
one of the first nations
to support Russia in its
war against Georgia.
Kondrashev applauded
President Daniel
Ortega's government for
formally recognizing the
independence of the
Russian-backed breakaway
Georgian republics of
South Ossetia and
Abkhazia on Sept. 5.
Kondrashev also did not
say the plans included
replacement of
Nicaragua's
shoulder-fired SAM-7
missiles. The United
States has been trying
to negotiate destruction
of those weapons to keep
them from landing in
terrorists' hands.
Last year, Ortega
promised to destroy more
than 650 of Nicaragua's
remaining 1,051
Soviet-made missiles in
exchange for hospital
equipment and medicine
from the United States.
Russia also has been
building military ties
with Ortega's ally,
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez.
Kondrashev said a group
of Russian experts would
visit Nicaragua next
month to identify other
potential joint
projects, including
petroleum exploration in
the Caribbean and the
Pacific Ocean and the
construction of roads
and bridges.
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