Top Putin ally meets Castro, vows ‘comprehensive support’ to allies in Latin America
Russia’s top security official and Vladimir Putin ally Nikolai Patrushev promised “comprehensive support” to Russian allies in Latin America against U.S. “interference” during a meeting with officials from Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua, hosted in Managua on Tuesday.
“You are well aware of the aggressive methods of the United States of forcibly breaking down governments that do not suit them, political pressure and economic containment of states demonstrating independence,” Russian Security Council Secretary Patrushev was quoted saying in a report by Russia’s official newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
The presence of intelligence officials in Russian delegations abroad is rarely disclosed by the country’s state media. But the newspaper reported that Patrushev traveled with officials from Russian spy agencies like the Federal Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service in addition to officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and other government agencies.
Pictures from Russian media outlets show Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas attended the meeting.
At a time when Russia faces increasing isolation over its invasion of Ukraine, Patrushev said Latin America, a region traditionally thought as closer to the United States, is gaining “growing importance” for Russia, the report says. His trip to Latin America, which included a Monday stop in Cuba, happened just days after Russia’s foreign minister met with Cuban and Venezuelan leaders on his way to attend a G-20 meeting in Brazil.
Patrushev said Moscow is ready to provide “full, comprehensive support to our Latin American friends, including preventing interference in the internal affairs of countries friendly to us, discrediting their legitimate authorities, intimidating the population, and destabilizing the economy.”
The official hinted Russia’s support is critical at a time when some of these countries are headed to elections, in reference to Venezuela, where strongman Nicolás Maduro has stepped back from efforts to improve relations with the United States and has broken commitments his government made to the opposition in a deal negotiated with U.S. support.
Patrushev is expected to meet Nicaraguan authoritarian leader Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, on Wednesday.
But first, Patrushev landed in Cuba on Monday, where he held a private meeting with retired Gen. Raul Castro to discuss “issues of practical cooperation between Russia and Cuba in the field of security,” according to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, reinforcing views that despite being out of office, the 92-year old revolutionary leader is still making important military and political decisions.
The report noted that Castro was “cheerful and energetic” and joked with Patrushev, whom he called “my old friend.”
In a separate meeting, the Russian senior official also discussed security issues and economic cooperation with the country’s handpicked president, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
In recent years, Russia and Cuba have strengthened military and diplomatic ties, and since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the pace of the exchanges has dramatically increased, a development that has irritated the U.S. government. Patrushev previously traveled to Cuba in 2019 and in March of last year.
The communist government is also trying to attract Russian investments and credits to try to salvage the island’s moribund socialist economy. But Russian officials have urged the government to speed up its own market reforms.
Hacked documents and testimonies revealed that Cuban mercenaries are also fighting with the Russian Army in Ukraine.
In Díaz-Canel’s talks with the Russian top advisor, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported that the Cuban leader praised Putin’s recent interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson, an hours-long exchange in which the Russian leader tried to provide historical justifications for his invasion of Ukraine.
Díaz-Canel said the interview showed Putin’s “undeniable leadership in the world.”
