Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and his predecessor, Raúl Castro, met with the Secretary of the Security Council of RussiaNikolai Patrushev, who arrived in Havana this Wednesday on a work visit.
Díaz-Canel and Castro exchanged with Patrushev about the bilateral relations of Cuba and Russiaand its future development, according to a report on Cuban television with images of the meeting.
Together with Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, we received Army General Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. At the meeting we exchanged about the excellent state of relations between the two nations and their future development. pic.twitter.com/HkKqadxdJB
— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) March 2, 2023
The parties discussed the deepening of Russian-Cuban cooperation, considered the strategic priorities of bilateral interaction, as well as addressed various problems on an international scale, including the conflict in Ukraine, according to report from RT.
This source points out that the consultations included a debate on the joint efforts of both countries to counter the “color revolutions” and the “destructive activities” of non-governmental organizations, according to a release published by the Russian Security Council.
The Cuban Interior Minister, Lázaro Álvarez Casas, as well as Aleksander Veneediktov and Oleg Khramov, undersecretaries of the Security Council, and Nail Mukhitov, advisor to the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, were present at the meeting, according to the official newspaper. Granma.
Shortly before the meeting with Díaz-Canel and Castro, the senior Russian official met with Álvarez Casas, with whom he discussed cooperation in the field of security and threats from the West. It was a “small but intense” visit, according to RT.
Patrushev arrived in Cuba from Venezuela, where he led consultations with representatives of the Executive in Caracas and was received by President Nicolás Maduro, with the aim of reviewing the cooperation map that both countries maintain.
In November 2022, Díaz-Canel met with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Moscow, with whom he analyzed the state and development prospects of the Russian-Cuban strategic association in the political, economic-commercial, cultural and humanitarian.
Nikolai Patrushev meets with the President of Cuba pic.twitter.com/tPMd3jNm92
– RT in Spanish (@ActualidadRT) March 2, 2023
A month later, Díaz-Canel and Putin held a telephone conversation in which they expressed their intention to continue strengthening “in a comprehensive manner the Russian-Cuban strategic association,” according to a statement from the Russian government, quoted by efe.
The Cuban president also referred to this exchange with the Russian president on Twitter, where he stated that they had reviewed the results of their visit to Russia and ratified “the common desire to deepen political dialogue and economic, commercial, financial and of cooperation”.
Efe/OnCuba.