US Sanctions pushing Cuba closer to Russia and China: Moscow’s Trade representative

As sanctions imposed by the United States attempt to stifle all trade with Cuba, the ties of the socialist island country with Russia and China have grown stronger in recent years. While bilateral trade in 2021 was still suffering due to the coronavirus outbreak, which has impacted Cuba hard in the middle of the year, Aleksandr Bogatyr, Russia's trade representative in Havana, told Russian media on Friday that the latest economic reforms would keep the commitment of further opening trade with Russia. 

"The exit from tough anti-COVID restrictions gradually returns the life of people and functioning of the economy to a normal path,” citing Bogatyr remarks, Sputnik reported. Further, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Cuba fell by 11% in the year 2020 and was only predicted to rise by 2% in 2021, according to him. Between the period of January and October 2021, trade turnover with Cuba was $97.9 million, down by 14.5% from the same time period in 2020. 

Furthermore, the Cuban Foreign Ministry stated during a ministerial-level meeting with their Russian counterparts a week prior that the sides exchanged opinions on various urgent problems of the global multilateral agenda, which included the aggravation of the economic, trade, as well as the economic blockade imposed by the US administration against Cuba in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.  

US imposed 243 additional sanctions on Cuba in 2017 

In addition to this, from the year 2017, a wave of fresh penalties was imposed, bringing the total number of new restrictions imposed by former US President Donald Trump to 243. Moreover, since the 1959 revolution, when the US-supported dictator Fulgencio Batista was deposed and replaced by a socialist government aligned with the Soviet Union, the US has imposed sanctions prohibiting most commerce with Cuba. Then, USSR became Cuba's main trading partner, giving it fuel and machinery in return for purchasing the sugar it had previously exported to the US.   

Cuba's relation with Russia and China

When the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991, Cuba was thrown into an unusual time of economic hardship. However, Cuba's relations with Russia, on the other hand, gradually improved. In the year 2014, Moscow had forgiven 90% of Cuba's $32 billion debt from the Cold War era. As per Cuban Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Garcia, Russia became Cuba's major tourism market in 2021, with 170,000 Russian travellers visiting the nation by the end of November. 

Meanwhile, Cuba's connections with China have also grown in recent years. According to Kawsachun News, the two countries inked a cooperation deal in late December to boost China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a huge world-spanning infrastructure project. 

(Image: AP)