The Russian Duma (Chamber of Deputies) ratified this Tuesday a military cooperation agreement between the Eurasian country and Cuba.
According to the document presented to the Russian Legislature by the Cabinet of Ministers, cited by the agency EFEthe document had been signed between the governments of both nations last March, first in Havana and then in Moscow.
The Russian Government indicated that the ratification of this agreement “will guarantee the necessary legal bases to define the objectives, directions and forms of bilateral military cooperation” and will reinforce the strengthening and development of relations between Russia and Cuba in the military sphere.
However, the reports do not provide details about the content of the agreement, the areas it covers and the specific actions that must be carried out as part of it.
Nor have any details been revealed regarding the date of entry into force, its temporary extension and the schedule stipulated for its implementation.
US accusations
This ratification takes place days after the US State Department distributed to its diplomats an internal memorandum in which it denounces that between 1,000 and 5,000 Cubans have been recruited by Russia as mercenaries, particularly for the war in Ukraine.
“After North Korea, Cuba has become the largest source of foreign mercenaries for the Russian military,” the memo states, accusing Havana of having “failed to protect its citizens from being used as pawns in the Russian-Ukrainian war.”
According to other sources cited by EFEincluding from Ukraine itself, up to 20 thousand Cubans would have been recruited to fight alongside the Russian troops, of which between 200 and 300 would have died.
The Cuban Government has not offered data in this regard, although some time ago it recognized the existence of a recruitment network and claimed to have investigated and dismantled it. However, figures, names and stories of Cubans recruited by Moscow have continued to emerge.
Cuba and Russia, traditional allies since Soviet times, have promoted their bilateral relationship in recent years and even more so currently, when the island is experiencing its worst economic crisis in three decades, with a shortage of basic goods and an inflationary spiral, accentuated by the structural weaknesses of its production and the recurring failures of its electrical system.
EFE / OnCuba
