HAVANA, Jan 21: Russia's interior minister began a visit to ally Cuba on Tuesday, a show of solidarity after US President Donald Trump warned that the island's longtime communist government "is ready to fall."
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.
Russia and Cuba, both under Western sanctions, have intensified their relations since 2022, with an isolated Moscow seeking new friends and trading partners since its invasion of Ukraine.
Cuba needs all the help it can get as it grapples with its worst economic crisis in decades and now added pressure from Washington. "AFP
