Russian diplomat: Moscow will not abandon Cuba, help with energy

Russia will never abandon or betray Cuba and plans to help the Communist island tackle energy issues linked to a U.S. 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.

"I am certain that the events of recent weeks in our relations will have us moving forward to find solutions to the toughest problems...emerging from the illegal and absolutely unacceptable blockade of the island by the U.S.," Ryabkov was quoted as saying.

"We cannot betray Cuba. That is out of the question. We cannot leave it on its own."

Cuba's energy needs were a priority, Ryabkov said.

"It is too early to say what the next steps will be. But it is clear we will not be limiting our supplies to the load that was aboard the tanker Anatoly Kolodkin," Ryabkov said.

"Russia has no plans to walk away from the Western hemisphere, no matter what Washington might say," the agencies quoted him as saying. "They are obsessed with pushing Russia and China out of the region."

He said the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran "make it clear that using force, sanctions and political diktat do not produce desired results".

The Russia-flagged Anatoly Kolodkin, under U.S. 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.

The United States said it was allowing the tanker to deliver fuel for humanitarian reasons.

Russia has been endeavouring to rekindle the close links it had with Cuba during the Soviet era and has urged the United States not to blockade the island.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez met President Vladimir Putin and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during a visit to Moscow in February.

-Stephen Coates/Reuters