West taking wrong approach on Russia: Nicaragua

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has criticized new round of sanctions on Russia over the Ukrainian crisis, saying the West is taking a wrong approach towards Moscow.

“It is absolutely clear that the position of the US and EU with sanctions and pressure is the wrong way,” Ortega said during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, on Tuesday.

He added that the sanctions will result in “greater instability and lesser security” in the region while supporting a peaceful solution with the respect of international law concerning the current turmoil in Ukraine.

The Nicaraguan president also called for the implementation of the Geneva deal signed in an attempt to defuse tensions in the former Soviet country.

On April 17, Kiev’s interim government together with the United States, Russia and the European Union reached an agreement in the Swiss city of Geneva, calling for all sides to ease the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine, where anti-Kiev protesters keep occupying state buildings in several towns and cities.

Nevertheless, a few days later, the Kiev government ordered a re-launch of its controversial “anti-terrorist operations” in the east and south regions in a bid to root out the pro-Russian demonstrations.

On April 28, a White House statement also said that Washington has imposed new sanctions on seven senior Russian officials and 17 companies linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “inner circle.”

In a similar move on the same day, the EU agreed to expand travel bans and asset freezes on 15 Russian and pro-Russian individuals in Ukraine.

Tensions between the Western countries and Moscow heightened after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of Russia following a referendum in March.