Media: Russian spy center operates in Managua

(ANSA) – MANAGUA, 26 AUGUST – A Nicaraguan army base located on Cerro Mokorón, south of the capital Managua, has become one of Russia’s main espionage centers, according to sources linked to the military institution interviewed by the news site Confidencial. Russian officials are said to be the only ones controlling the base’s equipment and related information, while local soldiers are limited to guarding the building. Inside, a sophisticated system called radio direction finding is in operation, capable of geographically locating telephone, television or radio signals. It is the most important base for Nicaragua’s security, as it hosts the Army’s Directorate of Military Intelligence and Counterintelligence (DICIM). The radio direction finding system and the SORM-3 software, the Russian equivalent of Echelon, are said to be used jointly to guard embassies and detect possible “traitors” to the dictatorship. Since 2017, according to sources cited by Confidencial, a group of four officers who arrived directly from Moscow have installed instruments and antennas in various military bases in the country to carry out espionage activities. (ANSA).