Managua - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin Wednesday thanked Nicaragua for recognizing the breakaway Georgian provinces South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The leftist Sandinista government of President Manuel Ortega was the second country after Russia to recognize the two provinces' independence.

Sechin, who earlier this week visited Cuba and Venezuela, said Moscow wanted to renew political and economic ties with Managua after more than 20 years' interruption.