Russian Duma Condemns US Policy Toward Cuba
The Russian State Duma unanimously adopted a statement on Wednesday during its plenary session, calling on the UN and other countries’ parliaments to condemn the US policy toward Cuba.
“We consider interference in the affairs of a sovereign state to be unacceptable. We must do everything in our power to ensure that sanctions and restrictions against Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Iran are consigned to the past. All this is done to stifle the development of other states. It is the wrong policy, and, as a rule, it is the weak and insecure who behave in this way. We must do everything to exclude this in international relations,” emphasised State Duma Chair Vyacheslav Volodin.
Call to End Sanctions and Pressure
The document emphasised that US restrictions against Cuba violated the principles and norms of the UN Charter, and said they were designed to exert economic pressure on Havana to secure political concessions and a change of government. The MPs called for an end to “US neo-colonial practices of conducting affairs through blackmail and threats”.
Energy Dispute and Russian Support
US President Donald Trump imposed a de facto energy blockade on the island in January, threatening tariffs on nations supplying it – but said that he had ‘no problem’ with a Russian tanker arriving: “If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba, right now, I have no problem whether it’s Russia or not.”
The first Russian oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin – with 100,000 tonnes of crude oil – docked on the Cuban coast on March 31. On April 2, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev announced that Moscow was sending a second tanker to Cuba.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel previously accused the US government of ‘asphyxiating the country’, stressing Havana’s right to purchase fuel on international markets.
Article by Viory
