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Russia approved the lending of 38 million euro ($43 million) to Cuba for the development of Havana’s defense industry, Director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Dmitry Shugaev said on February 6th.
“The loan agreement has been signed and domestic procedures have already passed from the Russian side. In general, our intergovernmental agreement on military-technical cooperation with Cuba has been in operation since 2006, we previously supplied a considerable amount of weapons and military equipment to the country, including military technical assistance. They operate airplanes, armored vehicles, artillery systems, air defense systems, and marine equipment produced in Russia. Now interaction is realized within the framework of the program of the so-called technological cooperation. It involves primarily projects for the development of the Cuban defense sector. Such cooperation is strategic, giving Cuba the opportunity to develop its military-industrial complex in the long-term. And this state loan will go precisely to the development of technological cooperation and the provision of technical assistance to the Cuban side,” Shugaev said.
Thus, reports of Caribbean Crisis 2.0 may start soon in MSM.
The decision was most likely finalized during a visit by a Russian delegation to Cuba on January 31st.
“Deputy Yuri Afonin, Vice President of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (PCFR) and First Vice President of the Committee on Natural Resources, Property and Territorial Relations of the State Duma, was received today at the institutional headquarters of the National Assembly of People’s Power, in the Capitol of Havana.”
“Both parties valued the magnificent relations between Russia and Cuba, the importance of holding a meeting between the two parliaments, and the policy of the United States towards the world, Latin America in general and Venezuela.”
Earlier, in November 2018, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia values its cooperation with Cuba highly, especially on international matters and regarding sanctions.
“We highly appreciate the allied cooperation between Russia and Cuba in the international arena. We stand in solidarity on key points on the global agenda. The Cuban side understands us in countering pressure from undocumented, unprincipled sanctions,” Shoigu said.
He stressed that “mutual support is especially important in conditions when indiscreet attempts by individual states are being made to redraw the international legal foundations according to their own patterns.”
“When a policy is pursued aimed at removing unwanted governments in Venezuela, Nicaragua and other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean,” said Shoigu.
Right now, the US continues accusing Cuba that it is using its influence in Venezuela to support Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who the US strongly opposes.
