Russian-Nicaraguan naval exercise
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week said that Russia and Nicaragua are preparing for joint military exercises.
Russia and Nicaragua are preparing for joint military exercises, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday last week after a meeting with the Nicaraguan president in Managua, RIA Novosti reports.
Lavrov, who arrived to the Nicaraguan capital on a one-day official visit, said the two states are developing military and technical cooperation and “are preparing joint military drills.”
In the end of 2008, Northern Fleet’s nuclear-powered missile cruiser “Pyotr Veliky” and anti-submarine ship “Admiral Chabanenko” took part in joint drills with the Venezuelan Navy, as BarentsObserver reported. That was reportedly the first deployment of Russian warships to the Western Hemisphere since the end of the Cold War.
It is yet not known which vessels will be taking part in the Russian-Nicaraguan naval drills. Murmansk TV channel TV21 on Friday reported that “Pyotr Veliky” was preparing to go out to sea for operational tasks.
In 2009, Russia and Nicaragua signed a deal to introduce visa-free travel for their citizens, RIA Novosti wrote. The same year Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a directive on the opening of a Russian trade mission in Nicaragua. Bilateral ties got a boost in 2008 when Nicaragua became the only country to join Russia in recognizing the independence of the former Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
