Cuba Strengthens Relations with Russia
Following a meeting on November 2, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to strengthen strategic ties between the two nations and called for an end to the embargo imposed by the United States. Díaz-Canel arrived in Russia on November 1 to discuss increased economic and military ties.
Díaz-Canel’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was to discuss a number of issues, including military and technical cooperation. According to the Washington Post, the meeting covered potential Russian investment in the modernization of Cuban railways, in addition to contracts for energy companies and military cooperation.
Díaz-Canel and Putin criticized the use of sanctions as a destabilizing factor in international affairs, likely referencing both the US embargo against Cuba and the sanctions placed on Russia by the US and the EU in response to the annexation of Crimea.
The statement issued by the two presidents comes just days after the Russian government extended a $50 million loan to Cuba for the purchase of military equipment. According to the Miami Herald, the loan will be used to buy Russian arms, including armored vehicles, helicopters, and replacement parts for tanks. The Cuban Defense Minister Leopoldo Cintra Frias intends to visit Moscow in November to outline more specific plans for military cooperation.
The talks also coincided with the Russia-Latin America and the Caribbean Business Forum which began in Havana on October 29. According to Cuban News Agency, Yury Borisov, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, said at the forum that economic relations between Cuba and Russia must now focus on joint development instead of the subsidization that was common in the Cold War era.
According to ABC News, Colonel General Vladimir Shamanov, a Russian official who heads the Defense Committee of the State Duma, stated that the Russian Federation is seriously considering opening a military base in Cuba and possibly reopening a former intelligence facility in Lourdes, near Havana.
Many news organizations in the United States have reacted to the possibility of a Russian base in Cuba by drawing similarities to the Cold War. According to Brookings, the comparisons have been heightened by President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, in which the United States and Russia bilaterally agreed to eliminate land-based cruise and ballistic missiles from their arsenals.
In a report by Newsweek, Former Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, who signed the INF along with Ronald Reagan, warned that withdrawal could lead to a new arms race, citing the Cuban Missile Crisis as an example of a failure between the US and Russia to cooperate.
With the relationship between Cuba and Russia improving, it is yet to be seen how the United States will respond to new deals between its two historical Cold War adversaries.