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New US policy towards Cuba means return to Cold War — Russia’s Foreign Ministry

Russia stands against embargoes, blockades and sanctions against that country and stresses unshakable solidarity with the island, Russia’s Foreign Ministry statement reads

MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/. The US administration’s new policy towards Cuba is a return to the Cold War, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry thus commented on a decision announced by US President Donald Trump to cancel the previous US administration’s unilateral steps to normalize relations with Cuba.

"The new course announced by the US president towards Cuba returns us to the already almost forgotten rhetoric of the Cold War style," the statement reads.

"Such an approach has characterized the US attitude to Cuba for decades," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"When the previous administration in Washington made considerable changes to the course conducted towards the island, we reasonably believed that this was not so much a manifestation of the goodwill of individual politicians, but a reflection of the failure of the policy of diktat and sanctions against this small and freedom-loving state… Now it turns out that the anti-Cuban discourse is still in high demand," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The history of the past five decades has shown the futility of the arrogant style in the dialog with Cuba. Russia stands against embargoes, blockades and sanctions against that country and stresses unshakable solidarity with the island, the statement reads.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has urged the Trump administration to listen to the results of voting on the anti-blockade resolution at the UN General Assembly, which confirms the international community’s position on Cuba.

US President Trump announced on Friday that the United States would tighten its policy towards Cuba. Trump also accused the government of Raul Castro of arms supplies to North Korea and the instigation of tension in Venezuela.

Speaking in Miami in the state of Florida where a large Cuban diaspora is living the US president urged the Cuban government to sit to a table of negotiations to come to an agreement that would suit the interests of both Washington and Havana.