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The Embassy of Russia in Cuba held a solemn reception on Thursday for Russia's National Day at its headquarters in Havana, which was attended by high-ranking officials of the Cuban regime from institutions sanctioned by Washington, in a gesture that could be interpreted as a joint challenge to the maximum pressure from the Trump administration.
Among the attendees were the Vice Prime Minister Eduardo Martínez Díaz; the First Deputy Minister and Chief of the General Staff of the FAR, Roberto Legrá Sotolongo; the First Deputy Minister of the Interior, Brigadier General Jesús Manuel Burón Tabit; and the president of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), Fernando González Llort, Hero of the Republic and former spy convicted in the United States as part of the Wasp Network.
The competition takes on a particularly significant dimension in the context of sanctions. The MININT —to which Burón Tabit belongs— was sanctioned by Washington on May 18.
The MINFAR —to which Legrá Sotolongo belongs— was sanctioned on June 4, just eight days before the reception. The ICAP was also designated by the OFAC on June 4, a week prior to the event.
The Russian ambassador Víctor Koronelli presided over the event and delivered a speech of explicit support for the regime.
"Faced with daily threats of an armed invasion, the intensification of the criminal economic, commercial, and financial blockade, and now the energy siege, alongside media attacks, the people of the largest of the Antilles demonstrate incredible resilience," he stated, invoking the legacy of Fidel Castro.
Koronelli secured Moscow's support
"Cuba has been and continues to be our strategic partner and one of our key allies in Latin America and the Caribbean. We will continue to support our friends in the defense of the sovereignty of the Republic, providing political and diplomatic assistance, as well as possible material support," said the diplomat.
The presence of Legrá Sotolongo is particularly striking. On May 29, the chief of the General Staff of the FAR met with General Francis L. Donovan, commander of the United States Southern Command, at the perimeter of the Guantánamo Naval Base, in an event described as unprecedented in recent times.
Less than two weeks later, that same general appeared at the Russian embassy alongside officials from institutions sanctioned by Washington.
Fernando González Llort has been presiding over the ICAP since 2017, an organization founded in 1960 and described by multiple sources as a platform for foreign influence linked to Cuban intelligence.
The reception is framed within a bilateral relationship that Moscow has steadily intensified. In March 2025, Russia and Cuba signed a military cooperation agreement ratified by President Putin in October of that year.
In May 2026, both countries were negotiating new areas of collaboration while Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov promised "political, diplomatic, and material support" to Havana.
All of this is happening while the Trump administration carries out the most intense sanctions offensive against Cuba in decades, with over 240 new designations since January 2026.
Koronelli concluded his speech by announcing that Russia and Cuba will jointly celebrate the centenary of Fidel Castro's birth on August 13.
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