Saturday 01 November 2008, San José, Costa
Rica
NICARAGUA-RUSSIA:
Ortega Embraces Kremlin
By José Adán Silva
Managua (IPS) - The
government of Nicaragua
is seeking Russia’s
support in a strategy
that some analysts view
as risky for the future
diplomatic relations of
this Central American
nation.
Nicaraguan President
Daniel Ortega has
reestablished friendly
relations and economic
ties with the Kremlin,
after over 16 years of a
virtual freeze.
Nicaragua was the second
country, after Russia,
to recognize last August
the independence of
South Ossetia and
Abkhazia, the two
breakaway provinces of
the former Soviet
republic of Georgia.
Russia’s invasion of
Georgia in August
precipitated the
greatest crisis between
the West and Moscow
since the end of the
Cold War, which
stretched from the
mid-1940s, shortly after
World War II, to the
collapse of the Soviet
Union in the early
1990s.
In September and early
this month, Ortega
received Russian Deputy
Prime Minister Igor
Sechin in Managua to
discuss a
Nicaragua-Russia
economic cooperation
programme. Ortega also
plans to travel to
Moscow in December.
Ortega hailed Russia for
”illuminating the
planet” with its fight
for ”peace and justice,”
while the United States
”turns its military
force against these in
an attempt to shatter
them.”
Nicaraguan Foreign
Minister Samuel Santos,
who visited Moscow early
this month, told IPS
that the two countries
are discussing a number
of possible cooperation
and aid initiatives, in
areas like energy,
health, education,
agriculture, mining,
fisheries,
transportation, science,
sports and trade.
Russia’s ambassador to
Nicaragua, Igor
Kondrashev, announced on
Nicaraguan public
television that a
technical mission will
be coming to the country
in December to explore
for oil and gas in a
region southwest of the
capital.
Kondrashev also said
that there are plans to
build a deep water port
in the Caribbean Sea and
restore a civilian
airport located on the
Pacific Ocean, which was
initially constructed as
a military base with
technical and financial
aid from the former
Soviet Union in 1980.
Another project under
consideration is the
construction of a
Nicaraguan canal linking
the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans, which would
compete with the Panama
Canal.
The Nicaraguan army
confirmed that the
assistance it will
receive includes the
purchase of weapons,
technology, means of
transportation and
military supplies, in
addition to training.
This month, 14
Nicaraguan military
academy cadets travelled
to Russia for training,
and a Moscow team will
come to Managua to
deactivate land mines in
the northern and central
provinces, according to
statements by Russian
Foreign Minister Serguei
Lavrov.
During Ortega’s first
term (1985-1990) — after
governing the country as
a member of the
revolutionary council
following the overthrow
of the 1934-1979 Somoza
dictatorship –, the
Soviet Union supplied
arms, tanks and
helicopters to
Nicaragua. But the aid
dried up after the
collapse of the
superpower.
The U.S. criticised
Nicaragua’s support to
the Georgia separatists
and called off two
high-level missions that
were scheduled to travel
to Managua to strengthen
economic ties.
In the wake of
Nicaragua’s Nov. 9
municipal elections,
Washington issued
stronger statements
against the Ortega
administration,
complaining of an
alleged lack of
electoral transparency.
Moscow came to Ortega’s
defense, demanding that
Washington and the
governments of the
European Union (EU) stop
meddling in Nicaragua’s
internal affairs.
But according to a
former Nicaraguan
ambassador to the EU,
Róger Guevara, the
country’s new diplomatic
alliance with Russia
could hurt Ortega’s
relations with EU
countries and
Washington.
”Ortega has accused
European nations of
organizing actions to
oust him from power. And
now Russia is backing
Ortega and accusing the
U.S. of contributing to
that alleged mission.
That’s called allied
hostility and it does
Nicaragua no good,” he
said.
Both Washington and the
EU have accused the
government of the
Sandinista National
Liberation Front (FSLN)
of a lack of
transparency. Ortega and
other government
officials have condemned
the criticism as
meddling and threatened
to expel diplomats.
According to Guevara,
Russia’s economic aid
amounts to less than
five percent of the more
than 500 million dollars
of combined U.S. and EU
contributions, which is
why he sees the alliance
with Moscow as ”more
ideological than
strategic.”
In his view, ”Ortega is
not looking for economic
aid, but rather
international support to
legitimize his political
agenda aimed at creating
his own version of a
socialist country, and
as he finds no echo
among his neighbours, he
has turned to Venezuela,
Cuba and now Russia to
feel he has
international backing.”
Nicaragua has already
sought an alliance with
Iran, backed North Korea
and criticized the U.S.
occupation of Iraq, thus
annoying the government
of George W. Bush.
For Javier Meléndez, the
head of the Institute
for Public Policy
Studies and Strategies,
Ortega’s move towards
Russia is in response to
the Kremlin’s strategy
of setting up political,
economic and military
enclaves in the U.S.’s
”backyard.”
”This is all prompted to
a great extent by
Russia’s aim to counter
the influence that the
North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO), and
the U.S. in particular,
exert throughout Europe
and Asia, especially in
the former Soviet
republics,” he said.
Ortega’s other
motivation, according to
Meléndez, is the search
for new sources of
economic and energy
support in the face of
the slowdown in the
Venezuelan economy as a
result of the drop in
oil prices, which have
plunged below 50 dollars
per barrel, after
peaking at nearly 150
dollars a barrel in
mid-July
Caracas is Managua’s
main source of economic
aid.
”Ortega is seeking
economic and material
support similar to that
granted by Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez —
especially sources of
support that won’t
impose conditions of
transparency,
accountability or fiscal
responsibility,”
Meléndez said.
”And Russian, like
Chinese, aid typically
comes free of such
conditions,” he added.
In Meléndez’s view this
should not necessarily
affect the traditional
relations that Nicaragua
has maintained with the
EU and the U.S.
”They would only be
harmed if Nicaragua uses
its relations with
Russia as a springboard
for strengthening an
international anti-U.S.
front. But, in any case,
I’m not at all sure that
Moscow is pushing that
kind of agenda with
Managua. Nicaragua is
too small to provide
Russia with any measure
of security,” he said.
”We can’t ignore the
fact that Russia is a
world power, but it’s
not a ‘big brother’ to
Nicaragua, just a
friendly country that
has felt attacked, like
we have, by the U.S.,
with its attempts to set
up missile bases in
their vicinity,”
Nicaraguan Vice
President Jaime Morales
said.
”I spoke with the
Russian deputy prime
minister and he told me
that the relations
they’re seeking to
establish with Nicaragua
are the same as any
relations they have with
the rest of the world. I
think that if these ties
do not entail
confrontations, or an
involvement in any cold
war, it’s good for
Nicaragua to have them
with every country,” the
vice president said. |
|
|
|
|
|
