Nicaragua is preparing to sign trade agreements with three Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia, according to a decree published Monday in the Official Gazette.
The order, signed by President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, grants “full powers” to their son, Laureano Ortega Murillo, to enter into agreements on “trade and economic cooperation” with the regions of Kherson and Luhansk.
A separate decree issued days earlier had already authorized Ortega Murillo to sign commercial accords with Donetsk, which Managua also recognizes as part of the Russian Federation.
Nicaragua has emerged as Russia and China’s closest ally in Central America. Relations with both powers are managed largely by Ortega Murillo, 48, the most publicly visible of the presidential couple’s children.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and currently occupies about 20% of the country’s territory. Moscow claims five Ukrainian regions as its own: Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea.
This is not the first time Nicaragua has backed Russian territorial ambitions. In 2008, Managua recognized the independence of the separatist Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It also supported Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Since Ortega returned to power in 2007, Nicaragua and Russia have deepened both economic and military cooperation. Ortega, a onetime Cold War ally of Moscow, first governed Nicaragua from the Sandinista revolution in 1979 until 1990.
The strengthening of Russia’s military ties with Nicaragua has drawn concern from Washington. U.S. officials, including Senator Marco Rubio, have labeled the cooperation a “threat” to U.S. national security.
