The rapprochement between Cuba and Russia is getting closer. The Cuban ruler, Miguel Díaz-Canel, met this Saturday with the president of the Duma (Parliament), Viacheslav Volodin, who arrived on the island to participate in the cooperation commission between the Parliaments of both countries, in addition to other activities.
“It is a pleasure and an honor for us to receive it in our country,” Díaz-Canel wrote in his Twitter account. Twitter and added that Volodin’s visit “gives continuity to all the exchanges we have had in recent months. It confirms the excellent state of relations.”
The Russian politician stated at the meeting that “he will do everything possible to implement the decisions approved between both countries,” while the website of the National Assembly of People’s Power published images of the Russian delegation upon its arrival in Havana where it was received. by the vice president of the legislative body, Ana María Mari Machado.
The press release from the Cuban Parliament states that the Cooperation Commission is part of an agreement signed in Moscow on November 30, 2022, “to continue strengthening ties between the two nations in areas of mutual interest.”
The Russian politician stated at the meeting that “he will do everything possible to implement the decisions approved between the two countries”
Cuba is the first stop on Volodin’s Latin American tour, whose agenda includes addressing the approval of laws to promote exchanges in the economy, energy, education, agriculture and tourism sectors.
On April 19, he visited the Island Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovwho also traveled to Brazil, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
The visit, according to the official press, focused on promoting political, economic, educational and cultural cooperation. “Relations between Russia and Cuba are excellent. They have a high priority given by both governments and are based on traditional ties of friendship between the peoples,” the newspaper said at the time. Granma in a note in which he added that the dialogue between the two nations “at the highest level has been valuable, friendly and aimed at promoting bilateral relations in all fields of mutual interest and benefit.”
Since the arrival of Donald Trump, in 2017, put an end to the thaw with the United States and economic opportunities for the Cuban regime dwindled, relations with Moscow have become increasingly close. It was seen especially between 2018 and 2020, when Russian tourism doubled and Moscow’s investments in the Island multiplied, although several of them were later canceled by Russia.
On this occasion, the interest of the Cuban side in having a powerful supplier of both energy and investment corresponds to the Russian side, in gaining influence in the Latin American area.
Oleg Kucheriáviy, executive secretary of the Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Trade Commission, explained to his country’s television that only 10 of 60 joint projects were being carried out and that the silence and delay of the island’s authorities had much to do with see on it.
The invasion of Ukraine changed everything and boosted relations. On this occasion, the interest of the Cuban side in having a powerful supplier of both energy and investment corresponds to the Russian side, in gaining influence in the Latin American area. With the premise of rallying around it any potential enemy from the West, led by the US, Moscow has once again drawn closer to Havana.
On this occasion, the interest of the Cuban side in having a powerful supplier of both energy and investment corresponds to the Russian side, in gaining influence in the Latin American area. The meetings of Boris Titov, president of the Cuba-Russia Business Council and a trusted man of Vladimir Putin, with island authorities in recent months confirm this interest.
Titov acknowledged in an interview with Sputnik last March that his team advises the Cuban authorities for an economic reform that involves giving more support to the private sector and, although he considered that there are problems in the mentality of the regime so that there are profound changes (greater business flexibility and tax cuts, among others), many experts warn of the danger of following the steps that the USSR took in its day to become an economy of great oligarchs today.
In recent months they have also visited the Island Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushevconsidered the closest spy to Vladimir Putin, and the executive director of the Rosneft oil company, Igor Sechin.
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