MOSCOW – Moscow will “always” stand by Cuba, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Havana’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in Moscow on Wednesday, reiterating support for the Caribbean island struggling against sweeping US sanctions.
Rodriguez traveled to traditional ally Russia seeking help as his country reels from a severe fuel crisis, intensified by Washington’s de facto oil blockade.
US President Donald Trump cut off key supplies of Venezuelan oil to Cuba after ousting Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and has threatened sanctions on states that sell oil to Havana.
“We have always stood by Cuba in its struggle for independence and the right to follow its own path,” said Putin, receiving Rodriguez in the Kremlin.
“It is a special period, with new sanctions. You know how we feel about this. We do not accept anything like this,” the Russian leader added.
Moscow did not publicly commit to any concrete pledges of material support.
“I would also like to thank the Russian solidarity expressed by the president and the Russian government, by the foreign minister, in a firm and ongoing manner,” Rodriguez told the Russian president.
Before Putin, the Cuban diplomat met with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who used Soviet-era language to criticize Washington.
“We call on the US to show common sense and refrain from the military-maritime blockade of the island of freedom,” Lavrov said.
Havana has been allied to Moscow since the socialist revolution in the late 1950s, relying on the Soviet Union for economic and political support for decades. The Kremlin maintained close ties with Cuba after the collapse of the USSR.
The United States has imposed sanctions on Cuba since the 1960s.
