![]() A May 2007 Presidential Decree granted free unrestricted international access to GLONASS, which in February 2009 was declared the legal property of the Russian Federation.ĭespite a 2004 promise to have eighteen operational satellites by 2007 (the minimum number needed)-and another one in December 2009, when Russian space agency’s (ROSCOSMOS ) Anatoly Permnov promised then-Prime Minister Putin a full (24) operational satellite constellation in 2010-GLONASS did not regain full operational capability until December 2011. By 2002, however, only eight remained in operation, as satellites were failing in orbit and Russia was unable to launch new ones. GLONASS survived the Soviet Union’s dissolution to reach full operational status in December 1995, with 24 satellites in three different orbital planes. Its first operational satellites went into service in December 1983. ![]() GLONASS is a legacy of the Soviet period. GLONASS is analogous to the United States’ Global Positioning System or “GPS,” the satellite-based navigation system operated by the United States Defense Department. Commonly known as GLONASS-the transliterated acronym of Global’naya navigatsionnaya sputnikovaya sistema-it is operated by Russia’s Aerospace Defense Forces or “VKO” ( Voyska Vozdushno-Kosmicheskoy Oborony), which resides within the Defense Ministry. So what is happening?Īt the root of American suspicions of SIGINT activities in Nicaragua is Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System. What the reports failed to make clear, however, is that the sale of Russian tanks to Nicaragua was discussed openly for some time. The coincidence of the two reports-suspicions of a covert Russian SIGINT base in Nicaragua and the Nicaraguan government’s sudden expulsion of Americans-no doubt is intriguing in itself. The report identified the person in question as “Evan Ellis,” an “expert in China-Latin America relations at the US Army War College.” One published report stated that the third American was “performing what could be construed as espionage-related activities on the construction of the Grand Interoceanic Canal.” The reference is to the Nicaraguan trans-isthmus shipping channel under construction by the Chinese infrastructure firm, HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Group. The Nicaraguan government claimed it expelled two Homeland Defense officials who were in the country performing work related to counterterrorism without first notifying Nicaraguan authorities. The United States State Department claimed Nicaragua expelled three officials with diplomatic passports. Two Western media outlets reported on 23 June that Russia was engaged in building a signals intelligence (SIGINT) base in Nicaragua as “part of a recent deal between Moscow and Managua involving the sale of 50 T-72 Russian tanks.” The reports came shortly after the 14 June expulsion of some United States Homeland Defense personnel by the Nicaraguan government. President Vladimir Putin meets President Daniel Ortega in Managua (Source: RIA-Novosti)
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