Russian President Vladimir Putin told Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez that Moscow stands with Cuba as it struggles under sweeping US sanctions, though the Kremlin once again stopped short of committing to any concrete support.
Rodriguez was in Moscow on Wednesday seeking economic and energy assistance as Cuba faces a deepening fuel crisis and widespread power shortages exacerbated by Washington’s de facto oil blockade.
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“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,” Putin said.
Rodriguez on Wednesday met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov for talks before he was hosted by Putin.
US President Donald Trump halted major Venezuelan oil supplies to Cuba after removing Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro from power and has threatened sanctions on nations that provide energy shipments to Havana.
Lavrov used his meeting with Rodriguez to rebuke Washington, calling on the United States to abandon threats of a naval blockade.
“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.
Rodriguez said that Cuba would not alter its political course under US pressure, accusing Washington of fueling “the deterioration of the international order, which was already unjust and precarious, but which today is being replaced by the practices of the United States government.”
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Havana has maintained close ties with Moscow since the socialist revolution of the late 1950s. The Kremlin preserved that relationship after the collapse of the USSR.
Although Cuba has long faced fuel shortages, the latest US measures have deepened the strain on the island’s energy sector.
Russia has discussed potential assistance, with state media reporting last week Moscow could dispatch oil shipments to the island.
On Monday, Russian Ambassador to Cuba Viktor Koronelli said Moscow was examining how to organize support but gave no details.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Putin and Rodriguez reviewed options for assisting Cuba during their talks.
However, Moscow has not announced any firm plans to provide fuel shipments or other concrete economic relief.
Cuba has refrained from criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and up to 5,000 Cubans are said to have been recruited by the Kremlin to fight alongside Moscow’s forces.
In October 2025, Cuba denied assertions that it had any involvement in the war or had sent soldiers there, describing them as “false accusations that the United States government is spreading.”
That month, Ukraine announced the closure of its embassy in Havana and a downgrade of diplomatic relations with Cuba due to the country’s “complicity in aggression” through its failure to prevent the recruitment of Cuban citizens into Russia’s army.
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