Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua, has signed a decree giving Russia permission to station troops and establish military bases in his country, according to a report from Kh-101 missiles had a range of around 5,000 km, which is long enough to allow them to reach most of the US and the southernmost parts of Canada (or into Brazil, Bolivia and northern Chile, for that matter).

As of press time, the Sprinter report could not be confirmed.

If true, Ortega’s decree represents yet another sign of rising tensions between Russia and the West – and in particular, the US. Just last week, Alba Azucena Torres Mejia, the Nicaraguan ambassador to Moscow, declared that the Central American country “supports Russia and is ready to widen bilateral co-operation” in all spheres.

One of the comments on the X post noted that Russian state television had reported in June 2022 that Nicaragua’s president had invited the Russian Armed Forces to deploy troops in his country. The report stated that the invitation had come in the form of a decree allowing foreign warships and military aircraft to enter Nicaragua on a temporary basis and “for humanitarian purposes” only.

Sprinter’s report was published one day before the US State Department expanded sanctions on Managua by imposing visa restrictions on 100 Nicaraguan municipal officials. The State Department described the move as a bid to “promote accountability for the Ortega-Murillo regime’s relentless attacks on civil liberties.” In a statement, it faulted Ortega and his Vice President Rosario Murillo for it efforts “to repress civil society organisations, close civic spaces” and “unjustly” imprison opponents of the current government.