The Japan Times - Putin says Russia 'always' stands by Cuba, slams US sanctions

Rodriguez travelled to traditional ally Russia seeking help as his country reels from a severe fuel crisis, intensified by Washington's de facto oil blockade.

US President Donald Trump cut off key supplies of Venezuelan oil to Cuba after ousting Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro and has threatened sanctions on states that sell oil to Havana.

"We have always stood by Cuba in its struggle for independence and the right to follow its own path," said Putin, receiving Rodriguez in the Kremlin.

"It is a special period, with new sanctions. You know how we feel about this. We do not accept anything like this," the Russian leader added.

Moscow did not publicly commit to any concrete pledges of material support.

"I would also like to thank the Russian solidarity expressed by the president and the Russian government, by the foreign minister, in a firm and ongoing manner," Rodriguez told the Russian president.

Before Putin, the Cuban diplomat met with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who used Soviet-era language to criticise Washington.

"We call on the US to show common sense and refrain from the military-maritime blockade of the island of freedom," Lavrov said.

Havana has been allied to Moscow since the socialist revolution in the late 1950s, relying on the Soviet Union for economic and political support for decades. The Kremlin maintained close ties with Cuba after the collapse of the USSR.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Cuba since the 1960s.

- 'Unjust' -

While the island has long grappled with a severe fuel shortage, the latest US measures have deepened the crisis.

Russia, one of the world's largest energy producers, has mulled aid for Cuba, with state media reporting last week Moscow could send oil to the island.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Putin and Rodriguez discussed support measures for Havana.

But Moscow is yet to publicly commit to sending fuel or other much-needed assistance.

At the talks with Lavrov, Rodriguez said that Cuba would not change its political course under US pressure.

He denounced Washington for "the deterioration of the international order, which was already unjust and precarious, but which today is being replaced by the practises of the United States government".

Since sending troops to Ukraine in 2022, Moscow -- under massive Western sanctions -- has solidified Soviet-era alliances, such as its ties with North Korea.

Cuba has not denounced Moscow's offensive in Ukraine and there have been reports throughout the four-year war of Cuban fighters being recruited by Russia.

Putin has refrained in recent weeks from sharp criticism of the United States while talks on ending the four-year war in Ukraine, mediated by Washington, are ongoing.

The Russian leader, an ex-KGB spy, visited Cuba in 2014, meeting the island's revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, who died two years later.

K.Hashimoto--JT