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NICARAGUA-RUSSIA: Ortega Embraces Kremlin

José Adán Silva

MANAGUA, Nov 25 2008 (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 recognise 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 defence, 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 organising 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 legitimise 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 criticised 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 Organisation (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.