Havana: Cuba will continue to receive support from Russia to tide over its energy crisis, arising out of an US-imposed embargo. This was announced by Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov after talks in the Cuban capital.
The minister, quoted by Russian news agencies, also said Moscow had no intention of walking away from its interests in the Western hemisphere, no matter what the United States might say.
Moscow’s help for Cuba would go beyond the large shipload of oil it had sent to the island last month, Ryabkov said, as reported by Reuters..
“I am certain that the events of recent weeks in our relations will have us moving forward to find solutions to the toughest problems…emerging from the illegal and absolutely unacceptable blockade of the island by the US,” he was quoted as saying.
“We cannot betray Cuba. That is out of the question
. We cannot leave it on its own,” he said, adding that Cuba’s energy needs were a priority.
“It is too early to say what the next steps will be. But it is clear we will not be limiting our supplies to the load that was aboard the tanker Anatoly Kolodkin,” Ryabkov said.
“Russia has no plans to walk away from the Western hemisphere, no matter what Washington might say,” the agencies quoted him as saying. “They are obsessed with pushing Russia and China out of the region.”
The US and Israeli attacks on Iran “make it clear that using force, sanctions and political diktat do not produce desired results”, Ryabkov added.
The Russia-flagged Anatoly Kolodkin, under US sanctions, reached Cuba last month. It was carrying about 700,000 barrels of Russian oil – the first large delivery of crude oil since Washington moved to cut off the island’s fuel supply.
It was allowing the tanker to deliver fuel for humanitarian reasons, the US said.
Russia is clearly making efforts to renew the ties that Moscow has with Havana during the Soviet-era, and has urged Washington not to blockade the island. Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez met Russian president Vladimir Putin and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov during a visit to Moscow in February.