The Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) confirmed this Tuesday that Russia is fulfilling several military-technical cooperation contracts with Cuba and that both countries are negotiating new areas for future collaboration, according to statements made to the Interfax agency during the International Security Forum taking place from May 26 to 29 in the Moscow region.
"Russia and Cuba are long-standing partners in the sphere of technical-military cooperation. Given the U.S. blockade on the island, our support is especially important for our Cuban partners," stated the FSVTS, which also specified that "today we are fulfilling our commitments under several signed contracts and are discussing promising areas, taking into account the priorities of the Cuban side."
The announcement comes at one of the highest points of tension between Washington and Havana in decades, and represents explicit backing from Moscow for Miguel Díaz-Canel's regime amid an unprecedented escalation of diplomatic and military tensions.
The most recent trigger for this escalation was a report published on May 17 by Axios, based on classified U.S. intelligence, which claimed that Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones from Russia and Iran since 2023, with possible plans to use them against the Guantanamo naval base, U.S. military ships, and Key West, Florida.
The same report indicated that up to 5,000 Cuban soldiers may have fought for Russia in Ukraine, with Moscow paying around $25,000 per fighter, and that some had imparted knowledge about drone warfare to military leaders in Havana.
Last Wednesday, the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, María Zajárova, categorically denied that information, referring to it as "fiction" within the context of an "information war," although she also stated that Russia "maintains contact with Cuba on all matters of interest to our two countries."
Washington's response has been decisive. On May 20, Trump warned that the U.S. will not tolerate Cuba as a state that hosts operations hostile to its territory, in a presidential message issued on the occasion of Cuba's Independence Day.
On that same day, the Department of the Treasury sanctioned nine high-ranking Cuban officials and three entities, including the Cuban Intelligence Directorate (DGI/G2).
On May 1, Trump had already signed a new executive order expanding sanctions against Cuba, including the energy, defense, mining, and financial services sectors, and authorizing secondary sanctions against foreign financial institutions.
The Russian support for the Cuban regime has a legal foundation formalized in March 2025, when both governments signed an intergovernmental military cooperation agreement. Putin officialized this agreement with his signature on October 15, 2025, following its ratification by the Duma and the Federation Council.
Russian analysts have warned, however, that Moscow—immersed in the war in Ukraine—can only provide real political support to Havana, lacking the capability for an economic or military rescue comparable to that of the Soviet era.
This Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that voices close to Rubio and Trump are advocating for "total pressure" until a regime change is achieved in Cuba, which anticipates a new twist in the confrontation between Washington and Havana, with Moscow as the backdrop.
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