The Russian ambassador to Nicaragua, Andrei Budaev, confirmed plans to produce the Sputnik V vaccine, developed to face the COVID-19 Pandemic, in a laboratory in Managua.
“There are currently plans to expand the range of pharmaceutical products, including the possibility of producing the Russian vaccine against Coronavirus,” said the Russian diplomat during an official ceremony.
He recalled that in Managua there is the Russia-Nicaragua vaccine production plant, baptized with the name of Elie Méchnikov in honor of the Russian microbiologist recognized as one of the promoters of immunology, which is with which they would coordinate the role of Nicaragua in the Russian COVID vaccines.
On August 15th, Russia began to produce its first vaccine against COVID-19, baptized as Spútnik V and which has been received with suspicion by the international scientific community due to the speed of the trials and the little information about the drug.
They Will Support The Fight Against The Virus In Central America
During the ceremony, in which Budaev was decorated by the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Denis Moncada, with the José de Marcoleta order in the Grand Cross Degree at the end of his four-year mission in this country, the ambassador also announced that they are coordinating support for the fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic in all Central America.
He said that such cooperation would be done through the Central American Integration System (SICA), whose temporary presidency is held by Nicaragua, the country that proposed that Russia join that council as an observer.
During the ceremony, the diplomat thanked Nicaragua for its support and co-sponsorship “of Russian proposals in different multilateral organizations,” and highlighted bilateral cooperation.
“In recent years, bilateral cooperation has advanced successfully in different fields: in the economy, in security, in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, emergency situations, education and training of specialists in different fields”, he pointed.
Close Relationships
He explained that the ties between the two nations are developed “on the principles of equality, mutual respect, non-interference in internal affairs and common benefit.”
In this sense, he highlighted the creation, on the outskirts of Managua, of a training center for the fight against illegal drug trafficking that prepares operational agents for Central America, and all Latin America.
Also an emergency operations center, the donation of a fire helicopter and other specialized technical equipment, Russian buses, a supply of wheat, a Russian center to learn the language, culture, and traditions, and the new embassy complex.
For his part, the Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed that Russia promotes “peace diplomacy, solidarity cooperation, friendship and respect between two brother countries that love and promote peaceful international coexistence, stability and a better future for humanity.”
Nicaragua ” Very Important ” Partner Of Russia
Present at the ceremony were Laureano Ortega Murillo, son of the country’s president, Daniel Ortega, and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, among other members of the Nicaraguan government cabinet.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Ambassador Budaev gave the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister copies of his two works written in the country: the book “Nicaragua so distant and so close” and the collection of poems “My Nicaraguan reflections”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Nicaragua is a “very important” partner of Russia in Latin America. Russia, a former ally of Nicaragua that during the first Sandinista regime (1979-1990) provided the Army with Soviet weapons, and established diplomatic relations with Managua in 1944.
Since the Sandinista Ortega returned to the presidency in 2007, Nicaragua and Russia have strengthened their relations in all fields. Nicaragua is one of the few countries, along with Venezuela and the small island states of Nauru and Tuvalu, that have joined Russia in recognizing the independence of the separatist Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
