Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel on Tuesday unveiled a statue of Fidel Castro in a market north of Moscow, pledging to continue strengthening their ties in the face of US sanctions, Reuters reported.

Castro, who seized power in Cuba in 1959, is not honored with statues in his home country because he wanted to avoid a cult of personality, according to statements made by his brother Raul after the death of the man who ruled Cuba for nearly six decades. .

But Putin recalled him, telling Diez Canel that Moscow and Havana should “build on the friendship” established between Castro and the leaders of the Soviet Union.

“This is a real work of art, dynamic, moving, moving forward. It creates the image of a fighter,” the Russian president said of the unveiled statue, which depicts Castro with his hands on his hips and looking off into the distance.

“I think it reflects the personality of Fidel in the struggle, the struggle we are still in today,” Diez Canel said through a translator.

Russia, which has come under unprecedented Western sanctions since the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24, seeks to strengthen economic ties with countries that, in its opinion, are not part of the zone of US hegemony.

Since 1962, Cuba has been under the US economic embargo.

Cuba is on Russia’s side in the conflict with Ukraine

In a speech to the Russian parliament, Diaz-Canel expressed solidarity with Moscow, directly supporting the Russian pretext for the invasion.

“The reasons for the current conflict in this territory should be sought in the aggressive policy of the United States and the expansion of NATO to the borders of Russia,” he said.

Under Fidel Castro, Cuba was a close ally of Moscow and provoked one of the worst crises of the Cold War after it approved the construction of Soviet bases on its territory that could launch ballistic missiles with the range needed to strike the United States.

Asked whether a parallel could be drawn between the current conflict in Ukraine and the Cuban missile crisis, the Kremlin on Tuesday rejected the comparison, saying the situations were different and that Vladimir Putin should not be compared to former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who led the USSR at the time, respectively. .

Cuba is one of the countries that consistently voted in the UN against the condemnation of Russian aggression against Ukraine and other relevant resolutions.

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