MANAGUA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Russia offered aid to the leftist government of Nicaragua on Wednesday, a former Cold War ally, as part of a push to increase its influence in Latin America after years on the sidelines in the region.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin was in the Central American country following a tour of Cuba, where he promised to help areas devastated by recent hurricanes.

Sechin said his country wants to promote trade, energy and education projects while increasing "political cooperation" with Nicaragua.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla, had close ties to Moscow when he first governed the country in the 1980s and his Sandinista Party was locked in a war with U.S.-backed Contra rebels.

The Sandinistas were voted out of office in 1990 but Ortega returned to power in a 2006 election.

Since then, the ex-rebel has spoken out against U.S. "tyranny" in the region and irked Washington by allying himself with anti-U.S. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Nicaragua recently joined Chavez and Cuba in recognizing the breakaway Georgian regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia, backing Russia's stance in the international dispute.

Russian troops overwhelmed Georgia's military in a brief war last month, with Moscow saying it sent troops and tanks to defend South Ossetia from Georgia's bid to retake the rebel region by force.

Many world leaders criticized Russia after it recognized the two regions as independent states, but Nicaragua sided with other leftist Latin American countries that took a stance against Washington's support of Georgia.

Chavez is planning joint military exercises with a Russian nuclear-powered battleship soon to be circling the Caribbean in the United States' backyard.

(Reporting by Ivan Castro, writing by Mica Rosenberg)

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