Ukraine Breaks Off Diplomatic Relations with Nicaragua Over Support for Russian Occupation

Ukraine has officially cut diplomatic relations with the Republic of Nicaragua over the country’s recognition of Russia’s “sovereignty” over the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories.

This was announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sybiha on the X.

“This decision is a response to Nicaragua’s recognition of Russia’s so-called ”sovereignty” over the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson regions and Crimea… By politically uniting with the aggressor state, seeking to legitimize the forcible seizure of Ukrainian lands and opening the so-called “honorary consulate” in the Russian-occupied Crimea, Nicaragua has become an accomplice in the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine,” said Andriy Sybiha.

On July 30, the Nicaraguan media outlet El 19 Digital reported that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In it, he expressed “full support and recognition of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions as an integral part of the Russian Federation.”

The letter also allegedly stated that the government and people of Nicaragua “firmly recognize and support the heroic battle that Russia is waging against NATO-backed Ukrainian neo-Nazism.”

On July 31, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called on the Nicaraguan authorities to immediately officially refute media reports if they were untrue.

“The absence of such a refutation in the near future will be regarded by the Ukrainian side as confirmation of the authenticity of such reports, with all the ensuing consequences,” the Ministry said at the time.

On September 22, in Moscow, the government of the Republic of Nicaragua signed agreements on economic and trade cooperation with the occupation “administration” of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson regions and Sevastopol.

On September 29, it became known that Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Nicaragua to the Russian Federation Alba Azucena Torres Mejia arrived in Crimea with a work visit within the frameworks of thr “Days of the Republic of Nicaragua in the Republic of Crimea”.

In March 2014, after the Russian occupation of Crimea, Nicaragua declared “recognition of the will of the Crimean population in a referendum”.

In addition to Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Cuba, Sudan, the DPRK, and Syria, then controlled by the regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad, also recognized the “annexation of Crimea by Russia.”

In 2021, Ukraine imposed sectoral sanctions against Nicaragua in connection with the opening of an honorary consulate in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Simferopol.