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Cuba confident about Moscow’s support in wake of new US sanctions, says envoy

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier that the US authorities would allow Americans from May 2 to file lawsuits against those controlling the property in Cuba that had been nationalized

MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. Havana is confident that Moscow will continue supporting Cuba and hold its traditional position on unrecognizing the island’s economic blockade in the wake of US fresh economic sanctions, Cuba’s Ambassador to Russia Gerardo Penalver Portal said on Thursday.

"We are confident that Russia will keep to its invariable position consisting in unrecognizing Cuba’s blockade and protecting international law," the envoy said.

"We value very much the role, which Russia plays not only in unrecognizing the blockade [of Cuba] in the UN General Assembly and other international organizations but also in its leadership in protecting Latin America, in unmasking the US aggression towards Venezuela, the US attempts to destabilize Venezuela and topple the Bolivarian revolution by means of using the methods of non-conventional war," the ambassador stressed.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated on Wednesday that the US authorities would allow Americans from May 2 to file lawsuits against legal entities and private individuals controlling the property in Cuba that had been nationalized last century. Earlier, the US authorities regularly suspended the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which allows US citizens to file lawsuits against foreign companies, which are doing business in the United States and have invested in this property on the island. Washington feared that such judicial proceedings would damage relations with allies and flood courts with lawsuits.

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