Russia Writes Off Nicaragua's Soviet-era Debt

MOSCOW, July 26 (AFP) - Russia and Nicaragua have signed an agreement to write off the remainder of the Central American nation's multi-billion-dollar debt to Moscow, dating back from Soviet times, news agencies reported Monday.
"Nicaragua has no more debt," Sergei Kolotukhin, a spokesman for the finance ministry, was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
Nicaragua had owed Russia 3.4 billion dollars in Soviet-era debt. In 1996, Russia had written off 90 percent of that sum and had restructured the remaining 344 million dollars over a period of 15 years.
Now "Russia has agreed to write off the 344 million dollars," Kolotukhin said. "This way, there is no more debt."
Most of Nicaragua's debt was for military equipment, he said.