Putin is resurrecting Russia’s Cold War pact with Cuba

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov kicked off his tour of Latin America this week with a visit to Cuba. The choice is not a mere coincidence. Lavrov’s visit comes at a time when Moscow and Havana are enjoying their closest relationship in decades.

The Soviet Union was once Cuba’s greatest patron. It lavished the island with economic subsidies and favourable trading arrangements in an attempt to bolster the lone communist outpost on America’s doorstep. Infamously, the United States and the Soviet Union neared the brink of nuclear war in 1962 over Moscow’s attempt to deploy ballistic missiles in Cuba.

But as the Cold War approached its end, Cuba became less and less of a priority for the Kremlin. During the final years of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev cut economic aid to Cuba and withdrew Soviet troops from the island. Relations between Moscow and Havana continued their downward spiral at an even faster rate once the Soviet Union fell in 1991.