More than 12 hours after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Cuban government has not condemned the military action, but has spoken out in favor of Russia. He did so in the farewell to the President of the Duma, Viacheslav Volodin, who finished an official visit to the Island this Thursday.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel expressed his solidarity with Russia in the face of the imposition of sanctions and the expansion of NATO towards its borders.
Before the last official activity of the Russian parliamentary delegation, a tribute to José Martí at his memorial in Havana, Volodin held a meeting with the president of the Cuban Parliament, Esteban Lazo, in which he thanked Cuba “for its rejection of the interference in the internal affairs of Russia, the propaganda and communication hysteria” against his country by the United States and NATO’s “expansionist policy” in relation to Ukraine.
Volodin thanked Cuba “for its rejection of interference in Russia’s internal affairs, of the propaganda and communication hysteria” against his country
In a statement issued Tuesday night, the Cuban Foreign Ministry called for “a diplomatic solution through constructive and respectful dialogue.” Days ago, Russia extended until 2027 the return of the credits it granted to Cuba between 2006 and 2019 to finance projects in the areas of energy, the metallurgical industry, transportation and economic development.
Faced with the position of the Cuban Government, someone very close to him has spoken out with crystal clarity against the decision of the Kremlin. This is the secretary of international relations of the Communist Party of Spain, Manu Pineda, who last November monopolized the official front pages during a ten-day “working tour” on the island.
“Putin ordered the attack on Ukraine, opting for an inadmissible war solution,” tweeted the MEP for the United Left and very close to the island’s regime, calling for an immediate end to “all military operations” and a return to dialogue.
Pineda, who softens the message in subsequent tweets by distributing blame on who fueled the tensions, does not excuse the Russian president: “Putin is not going to solve his internal problems with the war.”
“All my solidarity with the Ukrainian citizens, victims of this irresponsible escalation. I condemn this intolerable aggression by Russia”
His position reflects, even more gently, that of the Spanish Communist Party itself, which has issued a strong statement against the Kremlin: “The Spanish Communist Party condemns the Russian Federation’s attack on Ukraine. The PCE calls for an immediate cessation of all military operations and promote a peaceful solution”, said the political party.
In the late 1970s, the PCE played a major role in Spain’s political transition and return to democracy, resulting in strong success in the country’s first free elections, held in 1977. The party was then the third in the chamber, with 1.7 million votes, but later it was diluted in related coalitions and currently does not attend any electoral process alone, reduced to a small representation within the United We Can electoral coalition.
The second vice president of the Government of Spain, Yolanda Díaz, was affiliated with the PCE in her youth and has been even more forceful. “All my solidarity with the Ukrainian citizens, victims of this irresponsible escalation. I condemn this intolerable aggression by Russia. Diplomacy and international law must prevail within the framework of the United Nations,” she wrote on her Twitter account.
On the other side of the Pyrenees, the French Communist Party is in the same league. Its general secretary, Fabien Roussel, has offered an interview on the France 2 channel first thing in the morning where he has been very forceful.
“The Russian president has chosen war. He has chosen to violate international law. It is a serious situation, which could become a new world war. Everything must be done for de-escalation,” he said.
The leader of the French communists has called for detours to be put aside and action to put an end to the new situation
The leader of the French communists has called for detours to be put aside and action to put an end to the new situation. “It is no longer time to look for responsibility. Now the war is here. We must act politically to renew the dialogue and restore peace.”
For the time being, the French and Spanish parties have been among the few communists that have dared to call the Russian movement on Ukraine an attack or aggression. In their environment, the CPs of Germany, Italy and Portugal have lamented the start of a war that is the first on the border with Europe since those that preceded the extinction of Yugoslavia, but they have lamented the attitude of NATO, to which they accuse the United States of breaking the Minsk agreements, and of wanting to use the continent as a battlefield.
“This is the situation that the United States has created against the peoples of Europe, to further subordinate them to its own dictates. No Italian should die for Kiev and no interest of our country should be sacrificed for the interests of others,” said the Communist Party of Italy.
“The situation in Ukraine still cannot fail to dissociate itself from the 2014 coup d’état, promoted by the US, NATO and the EU, led by fascist groups, and which led to the imposition of a xenophobic and warmongering regime,” says the Portuguese communist party, until recently part of the Portuguese government. “The decision now taken by the Russian Federation cannot be ignored apart from this situation and its events.”
The British Communist Party maintains a certain caution and, although it also calls for the departure of NATO bases on its territory and blames the US for the escalation, it meets this afternoon to make decisions and issue a statement.
“The antidote to NATO expansionism is socialism, not Russian imperialism”
Beyond the European area, but very close to the area of greatest tensions, the Turkish Communist Party has also been belligerent with the Kremlin’s attitude. “The antidote to NATO expansionism is socialism, not Russian imperialism,” he has claimed, in capital letters, through his Twitter account.
The Turks are on fire since two days ago Putin considered Lenin’s position on Ukraine to be erratic. “The words of Putin, who slandered Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Soviet Union, in which the most egalitarian and peaceful nations policy has never existed, with unfounded judgments, are unacceptable. His arguments have no historical basis and are completely demagogic. We cannot ignore the system of exploitation and the warmongering/nationalist delusions that condemn the working people of Russia to poverty, just because Putin wants to express his 21st century monarchical ‘fantasies’,” they say.
In other places where the communists govern, such as China or Vietnam, the adherence to Putin’s position is total, although Beijing, which according to several analysts is particularly interested in the war not destroying international stability and sinking the economy, has insistently called to recover the dialogue.
The Russian Communist Party is the main opposition force, but has clashed with Putin on numerous occasions, who has repressed them as much as possible. The Communist Party of Cuba, however, has never shown solidarity with its counterpart in Moscow, and has preferred to adhere to the leader who holds power, Putin, considered homophobic, nationalist and imperialist.
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