Russian minister visits Cuba as Trump ramps up pressure on Havana

In an act of solidarity following US President Donald Trump’s warning that the island’s long-standing communist regime “is ready to fall,” Russia’s interior minister started a visit to ally Cuba on Tuesday.

Trump this month warned Havana to “make a deal,” the nature of which he did not divulge, or pay a price similar to Venezuela, whose leader Nicolas Maduro was ousted by US forces in a January 3 bombing raid that killed dozens of people.

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

“We in Russia regard this as an act of unprovoked armed aggression against Venezuela,” Russia’s Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev told Russian state TV Rossiya-1 of the US 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 to counter external factors,” he added.

The Russian embassy in Havana said the minister would “hold a series of bilateral meetings” while in Cuba.

Since 2022, relations between Russia and Cuba—both of which are subject to Western sanctions—have grown closer as a result of Moscow’s isolation following its invasion of Ukraine.

As it struggles with its worst economic crisis in decades and additional pressure from Washington, Cuba needs all the assistance it can get.

Acting President Delcy Rodriguez has been threatened by Trump with “a very big price” if she does not follow Washington’s lead, particularly with regard to gaining access to Venezuela’s oil and severing ties with US adversaries Cuba, Russia, China, and Iran.

Victor Koronelli, the Russian ambassador to Havana, stated on X on Tuesday that Kolokoltsev was in Cuba “to strengthen bilateral cooperation and the fight against crime.”

The US chief of mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer, meanwhile, met the head of the US Southern Command in Miami on Tuesday “to discuss the situation in Cuba and the Caribbean,” the embassy said on X.

The command is responsible for American forces operating in Central and South America that have carried out seizures of tankers transporting Venezuelan oil and strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats.