Embassy of Russia in Havana - Nick De Marco

Cuba–Russia relations (, ) reflect the political, economic and cultural exchanges between

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. These countries have had close cooperation since the days of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Russia has an embassy in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

. Cuba has an embassy in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and an honorary consulate in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. Around 55,000 people of Russian descent live in Cuba. A 2016 survey showed that 67% of Cubans had a favorable view of Russia, with only 8% expressing an unfavorable view.

Cuba and the Soviet Union

Diplomatic ties between the

and

were established after the 1959

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

. Cuba became dependent on Soviet markets and military aid and was a major ally of the Soviet Union during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. In 1972, Cuba joined the

COMECON The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, often abbreviated as Comecon ( ) or CMEA, was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc#List of states, Easter ...

, an economic organization of communist countries that was dominated by the Soviet Union, which had the largest economy.

Cuba and the Russian Federation

Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba and Russia have maintained their diplomatic relations. After

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

came to power in 2000, relations between both countries increased. In December 2000, Putin visited Cuba and he along with

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

called for the lifting of the embargo on Cuba. Russia is still Cuba's leading creditor and the two countries maintain close economic ties with each other. Cuba strongly supported Russia's position in the

Russo-Georgian War The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia,Occasionally, the war is also referred to by other names, such as the Five-Day War and August War. was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the ...

. In the fall of 2008 Cuba and Russia increased joint cooperation with each other in the field of economics. Russian deputy Prime Minister

Igor Sechin Igor Ivanovich Sechin (; born 7 September 1960) is a Russian entrepreneur and a government official, considered a close ally and "de facto deputy" of Vladimir Putin. Sechin has been a confidant of Russian leader Vladimir Putin since the early ...

visited Cuba several times in 2008 in order to increase economic and political ties. Russia was the first country to provide aid to Cuba after three hurricanes devastated the country in the fall of 2008. The assistance provided by Russia included four planes of food, medical supplies and construction supplies. In November 2008, Russian President

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

visited Cuba to strengthen economic ties and to allow Russian companies to drill for oil offshore in Cuban waters, and to allow Russian mining companies to mine nickel in Cuba.

Raúl Castro Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz ( ; ; born 3 June 1931) is a Cuban retired politician and general who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the One-par ...

traveled for a week-long visit to

from January 28, 2009, to February 4, 2009. The talks included $20 million worth of credit to Havana, and 25,000 tons of grain as humanitarian aid to Cuba. In July 2009 Russia began oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico after signing a deal with Cuba. Under the new agreement, Russia has also granted a loan of $150 million to buy construction and agricultural equipment. In 2013, Medvedev again visited Cuba in which he signed agreements on education, health,

hydrometeorology Hydrometeorology is a branch of meteorology and hydrology that studies the transfer of water and energy between the land surface and the lower atmosphere for academic research, commercial gain or operational forecasting purposes. Whilst tradition ...

, aeronautics and space technology. After Russia

annexed Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held to ...

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in March 2014, Cuba recognized Crimea as a part of Russia. In July 2014,

also visited Cuba, where he touted a decision to wipe clean 90 percent of the island's $35 billion debt to Moscow and announced deals to invest in Cuba's offshore oil industry. During the 2022

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, the Cuban government blamed the United States for the crisis in Ukraine and backed Russia's right to "self-defense" against

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

expansion, but did not endorse the invasion, saying the conflict should be resolved diplomatically. Cuban president

Miguel Díaz-Canel Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (; born 20 April 1960) is a Cuban politician and engineer. He has served as the 8th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba since 2021 and as the 17th president o ...

visited

in Moscow in November 2022, and the two leaders criticized "unfair"

economic sanctions Economic sanctions or embargoes are Commerce, commercial and Finance, financial penalties applied by states or institutions against states, groups, or individuals. Economic sanctions are a form of Coercion (international relations), coercion tha ...

against Cuba and Russia. They also opened a monument to Fidel Castro in one of Moscow's districts. In September 2023, Cuba's foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez announced that the Cuban foreign ministry had uncovered a human trafficking network operating from Russia aiming to recruit Cuban citizens living in both Russia and Cuba to fight as mercenaries against Ukraine. In a press release, Cuba's foreign ministry said "Cuba is not part of the war in Ukraine" and that "Cuba has a firm and clear historical position against mercenaryism".

References

External links

*
Cuban embassy in Moscow

Russian embassy in Havana

Cuba, Russia Enhance Cooperation
* tsp://webcast.un.org/ondemand/conferences/unhrc/upr/4th/hrc090205pm1-eng.rm?start=00:31:08&end=00:33:09 Russian delegate Valery Loshchinin praises Cuba's human rights recordduring the review of Cuba by the

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a United Nations Regional Gro ...

Universal Periodic Review The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a mechanism of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) that emerged from the 2005 UN reform process.resolution 60/251of 3 April 2006, the UPR periodically examines the human rights performance of a ...

, February 5, 2009 * http://edition.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/12/15/cuba.putin.02/index.html

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

Official Statement from the Government of Cuba

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuba-Russia relations

Bilateral relations of Russia

Cuba and the Soviet Union

Cuba and the Russian Federation

See also

References

External links