Russia on Wednesday accused the United States of 'destructive' meddling in Nicaragua's affairs for calling a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis in the Central American country.
Human rights groups say more than 300 people have died in Nicaragua during four months of anti-government unrest that have seen police and the military open fire on protesters opposed to President Daniel Ortega's rule.
Russia, China and Bolivia opposed the US-chaired meeting, but US Ambassador Nikki Haley said the top UN body "should not - it cannot - be a passive observer as Nicaragua continues to decline into a failed, corrupt and dictatorial state."
"The Security Council is being transformed into something of a judge over Nicaragua," Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the meeting, the first to be held by the council since large-scale protests erupted in April.
Nebenzia described the US decision to raise Nicaragua at the UN council as a "glaring and grim example of destructive foreign intervention" and accused Washington of stoking division in the country.
"Following today's discussion, polarization in Nicaragua will only worsen. The initiators are indeed seeking to achieve that."
Russia argued that the situation was "stabilizing" and that differences between the government and its opponents should be resolved "through direct peaceful dialogue, with pressure from abroad."