Russia has rowed back on plans to take part...

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accepted over a year ago his Nicaraguan counterpart"s proposal to study the possibilities of participation by Russia"s state and private sectors in an enterprise to build a canal through Nicaragua.

However, Sergei Aristov, a Russian deputy transportation minister, gave on Monday a less optimistic remark on the proposal, saying that Russia must first review its foreign financial ambitions in the light of the ongoing global financial crisis.

"Considering the financial situation in the world, as well as the beginning of the Panama Canal reconstruction, the given issue needs additional elaboration taking into account the altered economic conditions," Aristov said at a meeting with Nicaraguan Deputy Foreign Minister Coronel Kautz.

Russia was hit hard by the global economic and financial meltdown, prompting authorities to devalue the national currency, pump liquidity into the banking sector and provide loans to domestic businesses to

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