• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's opening remarks during talks with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, Havana, February 19, 2024

19 February 2024 20:26
308-19-02-2024

Dear Bruno, friends.

I would like to begin by thanking you for your traditional hospitality, as is customary between our countries. I'm glad to see you and to be in Havana. I was here last year. I expect our next meeting to take place in Russia at any time that is convenient for you. I look forward to seeing you there.

In September 2023, you and I met in New York on the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. As always, we had a trust-based exchange concerning the unprecedented processes unfolding in the international arena, when the realities of the multi-polar world, objectively shaped and reflecting the unstoppable course of history, are not just being tested, but are eliciting an aggressive response from the United States and other Global Minority countries. These countries are using every available avenue to preserve their dominance, hegemony and control. The means used by the American and other Western policymakers to get there include blackmail, ultimatums, threats, heavy-handed military force, and sanctions rather than diplomacy.

Cuba has firsthand experience of the unlawful pressure and total embargo that the United States continues to enforce as a supposed legitimate course of action. Although the rest of the international community finds it intolerable, Washington persists in its actions.

We have global tasks at hand, including the mobilisation of the Global Majority to uphold their legitimate rights. We are working on it actively within the Group of Friends in Defence of the UN Charter established in 2021. The interest in this Group is steadily increasing. We will work to safeguard the fundamental principles of the UN Charter against attempts to rewrite international law and replace it with obscure rules. The Charter explicitly states that the UN is based on the sovereign equality of states. It is imperative that we hold our Western colleagues accountable, as they have long ago disregarded that principle and continue to go about their affairs the way they did in colonial times.

I hope we will exchange assessments of the bilateral relations, which are expanding. I realise that much remains to be done, and I am confident that our conversation will be productive.