On Thursday, February 4, during a briefing, Russian Foreign Ministry speaker Maria Zakharova reacted to the imposition of sanctions against the Republic of Nicaragua due to the opening of the so-called “honorary consulate in Simferopol”, saying that the decision looks ridiculous.
“Recently, the Ukrainian authorities imposed sanctions against Nicaragua in response to the appointment of an honorary consul in the Republic of Crimea by the leadership of this country. This decision looks ridiculous. As you know, since 2017, Ukraine and Nicaragua are not officially trading partners, so sanctions are not, in fact, imposed on that. Apparently this is an act of despair”,- she said.
Zakharova again stated that the occupied Crimea and the city of Sevastopol are subjects of the Russian Federation, and “the opening of consular missions of foreign states on the territory of Russia is a matter of our bilateral relations with these states, which does not apply to third countries, including Ukraine.”
Earlier, the Ambassador of the Republic of Nicaragua to the Russian Federation, Mrs. Alba Asucena Torres, visited the territory of the annexed peninsula to present the so-called “Honorary Consul of Nicaragua to the Russian Federation with residence in Simferopol” Oleg Belaventsev a consular patent. On February 1, 2021, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine applied sectoral special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) to the Republic of Nicaragua.