The European Union (EU) raised the Ukrainian flag this Saturday at its headquarters in Nicaragua, a country allied with Russia, in “support for the sovereignty, peace and freedom of Ukraine”, which is facing a Russian invasion.
Delegation of the European Union in Nicaragua raises the Ukrainian flag as a symbol of solidarity and in support of the sovereignty, peace and freedom of Ukraine #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/agDqPWe8Q7
— EU in Nicaragua (@UEenNicaragua) February 26, 2022
“Delegation of the European Union in Nicaragua raises the Ukrainian flag as a symbol of solidarity and in support of the sovereignty, peace and freedom of Ukraine,” the diplomatic headquarters reported on its Twitter account, with a photograph of the symbols of the European country and the EU in front of its building in Managua.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortegawho maintains a frontal discourse against European countries and the United States, is a former ally of the interests of Russia, a country to which he showed his support in his first stage as head of state, from 1979 to 1990, and then from 2007 to date.
This Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to advance in all directions after three days of military offensive in Ukraine and accused the president of that country, Volodímir Zelensky, of refusing to sit with him at the table. negotiations under their conditions to stop the war.
Nicaragua is a long-standing ally of Russia. The President of the Russian Duma —Lower House of the Russian Parliament—, Vyacheslav Volodin visited the country last Thursdaywhen he declared that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was intended to “prevent a full-scale war.”
Ortega supports Putin
Days before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s deputy prime minister, Yuri Borisov, also visited Nicaragua, and earlier in the week and before Moscow prepared to invade Ukraine, Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega expressed his support for Putin. .
At the close of Borisov’s visit on February 17, President Ortega said that he was in solidarity with Moscow in “these are times when empires threaten peace again, and threaten peace in the way they are attacking Russia”, in reference to the tensions between Russia and the United States due to the crisis in Ukraine.
“Our encouragement in this fight that the Russian people are waging for peace,” Ortega added then. Putin has referred to Nicaragua as a “very important” partner of Russia in Latin America.
In the Ortega governments, Russia has provided support to Nicaragua in various fields, including the military, transportation, and food.
In 2008, a year after Ortega returned to power, Nicaragua joined Russia in recognizing the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and in 2020 established a consulate in Crimea, a Ukrainian territory annexed to Russia. .
