Nicaragua and the former Georgian republic...

Tamara Kelekhsayeva said the document was signed by Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos and his South Ossetian counterpart Murat Dzhioyev.

"The ministers have just signed a declaration on the establishment of diplomatic relations," she said.

South Ossetia, along with another former Georgian republic of Abkhazia, broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russia was the first to recognize the independence of the republics in August 2008 after repelling Georgia"s assault on South Ossetia in a five-day war. Nicaragua, Venezuela and the tiny Pacific island state of Nauru followed suit.

MOSCOW, April 14 (RIA Novosti)