Cuba looks to Russia and China amid tensions with US

Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez spoke by phone with his counterparts from Russia and China shortly after US president Donald Trump declared that Cuba was in ‘deep trouble’.

According to available information, the conversation with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was initiated by Havana.

Moscow emphasised that it rejects US economic and political pressure on Cuba and supports its right to decide its own political and economic path.

The Russian foreign ministry expressed solidarity with the Cuban people in defending their national sovereignty. Tensions between Washington and Havana are rising at a time when the island is facing power outages and fuel shortages linked to the US oil embargo.

Rodríguez also spoke by phone with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, the two countries agreed to continue developing bilateral relations.

(reuters, pir)