- Title: Russia's Medvedev arrives in Cuba for visit amid U.S. hostility
- Date: 3rd October 2019
- Summary: ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS, MEDVEDEV WITH FLORAL ARRANGEMENT VARIOUS, CUBAN AND RUSSIAN DELEGATIONS POSING FOR PHOTOS IN FRONT OF MONUMENT CUBAN FLAG FLYING
- Embargoed: 17th October 2019 17:03
- Keywords: Russia prime minister Dmitry Medvedev Cuba state visit official communist foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez
- Location: HAVANA, CUBA
- City: HAVANA, CUBA
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002AZJNSQV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev kicked off an official two-day visit to Havana on Thursday (October 03) in a strong show of Russia's support for the communist-run island as it faces escalating pressure from the United States.
Moscow has sought to renew its commercial, military and political ties with Cuba in recent years, as part of a broader strategy to expand its presence in Latin America as a counterweight to China and the United States.
It has also backed Cuba's leftist allies Venezuela and Nicaragua, under attack from the Trump administration as a "troika of tyranny."
Russia's support for Cuba is insignificant compared to the role the Soviet Union once played, but analysts said it is still very welcome as the island's economy suffers from a steep decline in Venezuelan aid and U.S. sanctions.
Above all, Medvedev's visit - the highest profile Russian tour since that of President Vladimir Putin in 2014 - is symbolically important, they said.
Russia has in particular the capacity to help Cuba out of its current fuel crisis which Havana blames on U.S. sanctions on energy shipments to the island, although it remains unclear whether it is willing to make such a large commitment.
Throughout the Cold War, Moscow propped up Fidel Castro's revolutionary government, providing it with billions of dollars' worth of cheap grain, machinery and other goods.
Those subsidies disappeared with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and trade plunged.
(Production: Mario Fuentes, Rodrigo Gutierrez) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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