Speaking with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in Moscow, Putin reminded his guest that Russia “will not accept anything of the sort” when discussing the sanctions against the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday reaffirmed his support for Cuba, the embattled island nation in the eye of the storm of new US sanctions.
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Speaking with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in Moscow, Putin reminded his guest that Russia “will not accept anything of the sort” when discussing the sanctions against the country.
"You know how we feel about this. We don’t accept anything of the sort," said Putin.
“We have always been on Cuba’s side in its struggle for independence, for the right to chart its own path of development, and we have always supported the Cuban people,” he added.
Earlier Russian top officials spoke out in support of the island nation as it faced blackouts and severe fuel shortages worsened by a US oil embargo.
Lavrov urged Washington to refrain from blockading Cuba, which has struggled to import oil for its power plants and refineries after US President Donald Trump threatened any nation that sold oil to Cuba with tariffs.
“Together with most members of the global community, we are calling on the US to show common sense, take a responsible approach, and refrain from its plans of sea blockade,” Lavrov said during the talks with Rodriguez.
He promised that Moscow would “continue supporting Cuba and its people in protecting the country’s sovereignty and security," while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier on Wednesday noted that “Russia, like many other countries, has consistently spoken against the blockade of the island.”
“We have our relations with Cuba, and we value these relations very much,” Peskov told reporters. “And we intend to further develop them—of course, during difficult times, by providing appropriate assistance to our friends.”
Cuba situation worsening, FM says
The Cuban foreign minister's visit to Moscow comes as Venezuela, one of Cuba’s main oil suppliers, stopped selling crude to the island in January after the US captured then-President Nicolás Maduro in a pre-dawn raid and flew him to New York to face drug-trafficking charges.
In a press conference after his meeting with Lavrov, Rodriguez noted that things are getting considerably worse around his nation right now.
"The US and its government are adopting new practices of plunder, interference, violation of international law, and disregard for the UN and pose a threat to the world order, the principles of UN multilateralism, and indeed a threat to the international and regional sovereignty of all countries without exception," Rodriguez said.
"Today, the Cuban people are suffering greatly from severe hardships, but they are fully aware of the underlying causes and reasons for these economic deprivations, and they stand together and united," he explained.
Venezuela under the now-ousted Maduro was a key supplier of most of Cuba's oil needs. Mexico, another ally, has also cut off oil shipments to Cuba after Trump issued the tariff threat.
Asked whether sending fuel to Cuba could derail a recent warming of ties with Washington, Peskov responded that “we don’t think these issues are linked.”
Last week, Russia’s Izvestia news outlet cited the Russian embassy in Havana as saying that Moscow was preparing to send a humanitarian fuel shipment to Havana in the near future. On Monday, the Russian ambassador to Cuba, Viktor Koronelli, said that Moscow was looking into details of organising assistance to Cuba but offered no specifics.
Cuba’s fuel shortages already have forced Russian tourist companies to halt the sales of package tours to the island after the Cuban government said that it will not provide fuel to planes that land on the island.