The Kremlin may have been trying to undermine the ICJ’s authority by making it a venue for specious legal arguments, say authorities.
Nicaragua’s case against Germany at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in which the Central American country accuses Berlin of facilitating a “genocide” in Gaza, likely came at the behest of Russia, Western intelligence officials and diplomats told POLITICO.
A detailed western intelligence assessment presented to POLITICO determined that Russia, which has close relations with Nicaragua’s authoritarian leaders, likely pushed their allies in Managua to use the so-called Genocide Convention of 1948 to pursue Germany at the ICJ.
The Nicaraguans “have no reason to inject themselves into a conflict over the Middle East,” one of the western intelligence officers said.
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For Putin, who seems to take a particular delight in trolling the Germans, humiliation may well have been part of the calculus.
Nicaragua shuttered its embassy in Berlin earlier this month as a result of the case. Neither the Nicaraguan mission to the United Nations in New York, nor its embassy in Vienna, which now covers Germany, responded to a request for comment.
So let me get this correctly, the best evidence they could come up with is that they “have no reason to inject themselves into a conflict over the Middle East” and something that happened in 1979? Wow, propaganda much?
They also cited Nicaragua’s recent push towards authoritarianism modeled after Putin’s regime, and how Russia can use this case as a propaganda talking point point to defend their genocide in Ukraine.
Not mentioned in the article was Nicaragua’s support of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as Russia’s military and intelligence support of Nicaragua, which is also relevant information imo.
To me, it’s pretty clear that it would be to Ortega’s political advantage to continue to do as Putin asks. Even if Russia didn’t ask Ortega to file, it’s pretty obvious a dictator like him doesn’t care about Palestinians and is filing in bad faith to please Putin.