Nicaraguan military personnel. File photoMEXICO CITY, Feb 4The build-up of Russian-Nicaraguan cooperation in all spheres, including the military, is planned and does not depend on outbursts of tension that the collective West provokes against Russia, Russian Ambassador to Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador Alexander Khokholikov told RIA Novosti. «Regardless of the current political situation in world and opportunistic bursts of tension provoked by the collective West in relations with Russia, it is planned to build up Russian-Nicaraguan cooperation in the trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres, as well as in the military field, on a planned basis,» said Khokholikov. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier said that Russian President Vladimir Putin, during telephone conversations with the heads of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, agreed to develop cooperation in all areas, including military-technical cooperation. » />The Ambassador announced the legitimacy of the military Russia's presence in NicaraguaAccording to the Russian ambassador, it is the sovereign right of the two states to decide in what form military cooperation between Russia and Nicaragua takes place. Russia's cooperation with the Central American country began in May 1980 with the conclusion of an intergovernmental agreement on military-technical assistance to Nicaragua. In accordance with the document, Russia, then the USSR, assisted the Sandinista government in creating a regular army. «It is natural that a small group of Russian specialists is constantly located in this Central American state, fulfilling obligations to maintain military equipment and weapons and train Nicaraguan military personnel,» he explained. Khokholikov.
The State Department threatened Russia with a «quick response» if it deployed forces in Cuba
