(April 10): Russia will never abandon or betray Cuba and plans to help the Communist island tackle energy issues linked to a US embargo, a Russian deputy foreign minister ​was quoted as saying early on Friday after talks in Havana. Sergei Ryabkov, ‌quoted by Russian news agencies at a news conference in the Cuban capital, also said Moscow had no intention of walking away from its interests in the Western hemisphere no matter what the ​United States might say. Ryabkov said Moscow's help for Cuba would go beyond the ​large shipload of oil it had sent to the island last month. The Russia-flagged Anatoly Kolodkin, under US sanctions, arrived in Cuba last month carrying some 700,000 barrels of ​Russian oil — the first large delivery of crude oil since Washington ​moved to ⁠cut off the island's fuel supply. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez met President Vladimir Putin and his Russian counterpart ​Sergei Lavrov during a visit to Moscow in February.

Source: The Edge Markets April 10, 2026 02:00 UTC