“The leaders of Russia and Cuba vowed Friday to expand what they called their ‘strategic’ ties and urged the United States to lift its blockade of Cuba. In a joint statement issued after their talks, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel denounced U.S. ‘interference into domestic affairs of sovereign nations’ and spoke in support of closer integration between Russia and Latin American nations. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union poured billions of dollars in supplies and subsidies into Cuba, its staunchest Latin American ally. But ties withered after the 1991 Soviet collapse as Russia, hit by an economic meltdown, withdrew its economic aid to Cuba. Putin, who visited Cuba in 2000 and 2014, has sought to revive ties with the old Caribbean ally. Following the Kremlin talks, Putin and Diaz-Canel vowed to expand political, economic and military ties between Russia and Cuba. Sergei Storchak, Russia’s deputy finance minister, said Russia could offer Cuba a 38 million-euro ($43 million) loan to help fund its military modernization.”
Source: Russia and Cuba vow to expand ‘strategic’ ties that lapsed after Cold War
