Russian Interior Minister in Cuba as Havana Faces Trump's Pressure

(Patria) - Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev began a visit on Tuesday to ally Cuba, at a time when Washington is increasing pressure on the communist island that U.S. President Donald Trump said is "ready to fall," AFP reported.

Trump warned Havana this month to "make a deal," the nature of which he did not disclose, or pay a price similar to Venezuela, whose leader Nicolas Maduro was overthrown by U.S. forces in a bombing on January 3 that killed dozens of people.

Venezuela was a key ally of Cuba and a supplier of oil and money, which Trump promised to cut off.

"We in Russia consider this an act of unprovoked armed aggression against Venezuela," Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev told Russian state television Rossiya-1 about U.S. actions after landing in Cuba.

"This act cannot be justified in any way and once again proves the need to increase vigilance and consolidate all efforts in countering external factors," he added.

The Russian embassy in Havana said that on Cuba the minister will "hold a series of bilateral meetings."

Russia and Cuba, both under Western sanctions, have intensified their relations since 2022, with isolated Moscow seeking new friends and trade partners since the invasion of Ukraine.

Cuba needs all the help it can get as it battles the worst economic crisis in decades, and now additional pressure from Washington.
Trump warned that acting President Delcy Rodriguez will pay a "very high price" if she does not follow Washington's line - especially regarding access to Venezuelan oil and weakening ties with U.S. enemies Cuba, Russia, China, and Iran.

On Tuesday, the Russian ambassador in Havana, Victor Koronelli, wrote on social network X that Kolokoltsev is in Cuba "to strengthen bilateral cooperation and the fight against crime."
The head of the U.S. mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer, met on Tuesday with the head of the U.S. Southern Command in Miami "to discuss the situation in Cuba and the Caribbean," the embassy announced on X.

The command is responsible for forces in Central and South America, which have carried out seizures of tankers transporting Venezuelan oil and attacks on alleged drug trafficking vessels.

Fallen soldiers

Cuba has been a thorn in the side of the United States since the revolution that brought communist Fidel Castro to power in 1959.

Havana and Moscow were close communist allies during the Cold War, but that cooperation abruptly ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet bloc.

The deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles on the island sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when Washington and Moscow were close to war.

During his first presidential term, Trump rolled back the detente with Cuba initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.

Thirty-two Cuban soldiers, some of whom were deployed to Maduro's security detail, were killed in U.S. attacks when the Venezuelan president was taken to New York in handcuffs.

Kolokoltsev attended a commemoration for the fallen soldiers on Tuesday.