The Government of Russia He warned this Monday about the humanitarian impact of the growing US pressure on Cuba and expressed his “firm willingness” to continue helping the island.
The new show of verbal support from Moscow to Havana came during a telephone conversation between Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Bruno Rodríguez, in which the former reiterated the Kremlin’s rejection of any pressure against its Caribbean ally.
“The Russian side confirmed the principled position regarding the inadmissibility of economic or military pressure against Cuba, including obstacles to fuel supplies to the island,” Russian diplomacy reported in a statement. cited by agency EFE.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov considered that Washington’s new measures against the island, such as the threat of tariffs against countries that send oil to Cuba, could “lead to a serious deterioration of the economic and humanitarian situation in the country.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry added in its statement that during the conversation both ministers “addressed priority issues of bilateral cooperation and the international agenda” and “also discussed the calendar of future Russian-Cuban contacts.”
Lavrov expressed to Rodríguez “the firm willingness to continue helping Cuba with all the necessary political and material support,” the official note stated.
Putin: “We have always provided and continue to provide assistance and support to our Cuban friends”
Moscow support
Moscow has reiterated in recent weeks its support for Havana, after the US attack on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
Both President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov and other Russian officials have stressed their willingness to maintain an alliance that they classify as “strategic” and have condemned Washington’s threats and “blackmail” towards the island.
Furthermore, in the last month senior Russian officials traveled to the island, such as the Minister of the Interior, Vladimir Kolokóltsev, who met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and former President Raúl Castro. Havana considered his visit to be of “enormous significance.”
At the end of January both countries also signed a cooperation agreement in penitentiary matters.
Cuba’s serious economic, energy and social crisis has worsened since the island stopped receiving oil from Venezuela following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro by the United States a month ago, an attack that the Government of Havana strongly condemned.
Moscow and Havana have strengthened their relations in recent years, both politically and economically, and have signed cooperation agreements in various sectors.
Russia has also sent aid to Cuba to support hurricanes and other situations, and has supplied oil to the island, although in a smaller quantity and regularity than Venezuela and Mexico did, which – at least for the moment – have paused their fuel shipments to the island.
