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УДК 94(728.5)«1981/1990»:355.43(47)
A.L. Nikiforov
Participation of Soviet military specialists in the armed conflict
in Nicaragua (1981-1990)
Участие советских военных специалистов в вооруженном конфликте в Никарагуа (1981-1990 гг.)
The history of Russian-Nicaraguan relations is rather brief. It was only in 1944, when official diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Nicaragua were established. The countries became very close during the years of 1979-1990, when the Sandinista National Liberation Front held power in this Latin American country. During those years, Nicaragua has become the second most important strategic partner of the Soviet Union in Latin America, after Cuba. However, since 1991, due to dramatic internal political changes in both countries, official contacts were reduced to a minimum.
In late 2007, Daniel Ortega was once again elected the President of Nicaragua. Ortega, who quit radicalism since the Sandinista revolution, has not, however, lost the sentiment for the former "country of victorious socialism." At the same time, Russian political leaders, after a string of diplomatic defeats and betrayals in the 1990s, turned to the course on strengthening the idea of a multi-polar world, and restoring relations with many "third world" countries, which were formerly under the political patronage of the Soviet Union.
The above-mentioned circumstances led to the rapprochement between Russia and Nicaragua, this time on equal terms, as well as to a significant intensification of diplomatic, economic and trade, and cultural contacts between the two countries.
История российско-никарагуанских отношений весьма непродолжительна. Лишь в 1944 г. между Советским Союзом и Никарагуа были установлены официальные дипломатические отношения, которые стали по-настоящему тесными только в период 1979-1990 гг., когда в этой Латиноамериканской стране у власти находился Сандинистский фронт национального освобождения. В указанные годы Никарагуа становится вторым по значению стратегическим партнёром СССР в Латинской Америке после Кубы. Однако с 1991 г., на фоне радикальных внутриполитических изменений в обоих государствах, официальные контакты сократились до минимума.
В конце 2007 г., в результате демократических выборов президентом Никарагуа вновь становится Даниэль Ортэга, во многом отошедший от радикализма времен Сандинистской революции, но не утративший симпатий к бывшей «стране победившего социализма». Со своей стороны, высшее политическое руководство России, после допущенных дипломатических поражений и предательств периода 1990-х гг., реализовывало политику укрепления многополярного мира, восстанавливая отношения со многими странами «третьего мира», которым раньше активно покровительствовал Советский Союз.
Указанные обстоятельства обусловили сближение между Россией и Никарагуа на равноправных началах, а также заметную активизацию
© Nikiforov A.L., 2015
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дипломатических, торгово-экономических и культурных контактов между странами.
Key words: Geopolitical interests, Military experts, Socialist countries; Sandinista revolution; A. Somoza dictatorship; Contras; Military and technical assistance; International duty; Revolutionary regime; D. Ortega government.
Ключевые слова: геополитические интересы; военные специалисты; страны социалистического лагеря; Сандинистская революция; диктатура А. Сомосы; контрас; военно-техническая помощь; интернациональный долг; революционный режим; правительство Д. Ортэги.
In recent years, Russia has been returning to the path of extensive cooperation with Asian and Latin American countries in order to meet its geopolitical interests. To some extent, this task is made easier by the fact that in these regions many countries still retain a grateful remembrance of the political support and significant economic and military assistance once provided by the Soviet Union.
Therefore, despite all the global changes which have taken place both in Russia and all over the world, Russian diplomacy is setting its course on resuming close and equitable cooperation with countries, which still gravitate towards the former Socialist camp. This, in turn, is an important aspect of Russia’s contemporary international policy.
According to S.A. Karaganov, "... one of the main geopolitical objectives of the Russian Federation in recent years has been the resumption of political, economic, and military cooperation with one of the Central American countries - Nicaragua. During the years of 19791990, in this Latin American country prevailed a political regime, originated from the so-called "Sandinista revolution", and remained loyal to the Soviet Union and the entire Socialist camp... " [7, p. 187].
In fact, in July of 1979, the twenty-something year struggle of the Nicaraguan people with the clan of the dictator Anastasio Somoza came to an end. The Sandinista National Liberation Front, which came to power, elected its leader Daniel Ortega as the new head of Nicaragua. After becoming the ruling party, the Sandinistas nationalized the mines and forests, and expropriated vast estates (haciendas) to hand them over to landless peasants.
According to the researcher N.M. Grant: "... they have performed a true social revolution, but their loyalty to the Communists and close ties with Cuba provoked hostility from the US government. In addition, Sandinista’s requests for aid from the US were followed by condemnation of past and present US policy, along with support of communist rebels in El Salvador. All those factors contributed to the formation of the opposition to the Sandinista government, which was largely supported by the United States..." [1, p. 341].
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The core of anti-government forces, known as the Contras, were the guards of the ousted dictator Anastasio Somoza, as well as the Native Americans and African-Americans from the coast of Miskito, whose antagonism to Managua went back in history. The main leader of the Contras was John Negroponte, who served as the US Ambassador to Honduras since 1981. Later, he carried out a similar mission in Iraq, and in early 2005 was appointed to the position of the Director of National Intelligence of the United States.
The Soviets, Cuba and other socialist countries could not remain indifferent to the civil war that flared up in Nicaragua. In 1982, Daniel Ortega visited Moscow, where he outlined the needs of his country. Shortly after, the Soviet Union began to supply Nicaragua with arms and high-level specialists.
The military historian P.Y. Kuznetsov states that "... within the first year of Daniel Ortega’s service, from the Soviet Union Nicaragua received 57-mm anti-tank guns, 122-mm howitzer D-30 and 152-mm howitzer D-20. In 1982, Nicaragua received the first batch of 122mm rocket launchers BM-21, capable of firing a volley on the area of 40 missiles. By the end of 1987, the Nicaraguan government troops were armed with 60 heavy guns, 30 BM-21, more than 120 anti-tank guns, and hundreds of mortars. Since 1980, the country began to establish its system of Air Defense. To equip it, the Soviet Union supplied anti-aircraft guns LSD-4 ZU-23 and M-1939, as well as the rocket surface-to-air backpack. In 1984, the Nicaraguan Air Defense were given 100mm antiaircraft guns KS-19. In total, by the end of 1987, there were about 400 anti-aircraft guns and more than 350 surface-to-air missiles as part of the Nicaraguan air defense units. In addition, the country has received 3500 military trucks from the GDR; more than 800 GAZ cars, 40 conveyors for T-55 tanks, about 75 fuel tankers and other vehicles from the USSR and other countries of the Socialist block.... " [2, p. 412].
In a short time, with the active participation of Soviet and Cuban specialists virtually the entire Air Force of Nicaragua was recreated. Since 1982, military specialists from the USSR were sent to Nicaragua on a regular basis, among whom were instructors on mechanized infantry, armored and aviation units, and GRU officers of the Soviet KGB.
Researcher P.I. Novikov adds: "... the first aircraft, received by the Sandinistas, were Soviet AN-2. Later came four Italian training machines SF-260, obtained from Libya, and then six Soviet transport planes AN-26 and military helicopters. By the end of 1987, in the Nicaraguan Air Force, there were more than 40 Mi-8/17 and 12, MI-24, which in the US called "flying tank" ... " [6, p. 95].
Along with the growth of the amount of military equipment supplied, Nicaragua initiated construction of new and expansion of old airfields.
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One of them, Punta Huete in Managua, had the longest runway in Central America, which could accommodate any kind of military aircraft.
After the revolution, Nicaraguan Navy additionally received two French patrol boats, eight Soviet and four North Korean patrol boats, two Polish and two Soviet trawlers. In 1983, Nicaragua began creating a network of radar stations, which by the end of the 1980s turned to be incomparable to the rest of the region [5, p. 332].
In 1987, the US Department of State and the US Department of Defense issued an illustrated booklet tracing the path, made by the Nicaragua armed forces after the overthrow of Anastasio Somoza’s regime, and the Sandinistas’ shipments of weapons from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. According to these reports, before the revolution in Nicaragua, there were only a few American tanks dated back to the Second World War (of which only three were possible to operate), and 25 Staghound armored cars.
The overall situation with the military and technical equipment of the Sandinistas’ armed forces changed dramatically with the socialist countries’, and, above all, the Soviet Union’, supplies.
Thus, in mid-1981 the country received the first Soviet T-55 tanks, and by the end of 1984, their number reached 110 units. In 1984, the Soviet Union supplied Nicaragua with about 30 amphibious tanks PT-76, armed with a 76-mm gun, more than 250 armored vehicles, mainly BTR-60 and BTR-152, as well as scout BRDM-2 [8, p. 358].
In total, according to American estimates, the total cost of military equipment supplied to Nicaragua by socialist countries by mid-1987 amounted to $2 billion.
According to military historian A.I. Molchanov "... between the years of 1978 to 1990, Nicaragua was visited by 688 Soviet soldiers, including 77 soldiers on duty. Often they were involved in military action along with Cuban units. According to unofficial data, in Nicaragua in the mid-1980s, there was also a significant number of Soviet military intelligence personnel. Their task was to train locals the methods of sabotage and guerrilla warfare... " [3, p. 152].
Soviet military doctors also worked in Nicaragua along with the military personnel. The number of doctors amounted to 76 people, who worked on yearly rotation in Nicaragua until January of 1991.
In 1982, when the north of the country was severely damaged by heavy flooding, the Soviet Union sent to Nicaragua a tent hospital, which was set up on the outskirts of Chinandega. The hospital contained 100 beds and was equipped with machines from Hungary, Germany, and the United States. Medications in a form of humanitarian aid came from England, India, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Brazil and other countries [4, p. 291].
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Thus, participation of Soviet military and civilian personnel in the Nicaraguan conflict was limited, meaning, first of all, exclusively material and technical support. During the civil war in Nicaragua, Soviet specialists obviously supported the revolutionary Sandinista regime, which, in turn, reflected the interests of the majority of the common people of Nicaragua.
References
1. Grant N.M. Lokal'nye voennye konflikty II - i poloviny XX-go veka [Local military conflicts of the second half of Xx century]. - М., 2009.
2. Kuznetsov P.Ya. Sovetskii Soyuz v lokal'nykh voinakh i konfliktakh XX veka [The Soviet Union in local wars and conflicts of the XX century]. - М., 2010.
3. Molchanov A. I. Gordaya strana-ptashka (“Nikaragua”): mezhdu
“sandinistami” i “kontras” [A proud bird-country (Nicaragua): between the Sandinistas and the Contras]. - М., 1992.
4. Sm.: Nash internatsional'nyi dolg. Vospominaniya i svidetel'stva sovetskikh voennykhvrachei./ pod red. A.M. Nagurnogo [Our international duty. Memoirs of Soviet military doctors]. - М., 1999.
5.Sm.: Nikaragua v ogne (1978-1990) / sbornik dokumentov pod red. I.S. Shevtsova [Nicaragua on fire]. - М., 1995.
6. Novikov P.I. Voenno-tekhnicheskaya pomoshch' SSSR stranam “tret'egomira” v tsifrakh i faktakh [Military and technical assistance of the USSR to the "third world" countries in facts and figures]. - М., 2007.
7. Rossiya i mir. Novaya epokha. 12 let, kotorye mogut vse izmenit' / Otv. red.
S.A. Karaganov [Russia and the world. The New Epoch.Twelve years that can change everything]. - М., 2008.
8. Sm.: Sandinisty s zasekrechennymi imenami (sovetskie ofitsery v Nikaragua) / sbornik dokumentov pod red. M.V. Makhakhurova [The Sandinistas secret names (Soviet officers in Nicaragua)]. - М., 2005.
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