Russia Declares, 'We Have No Right to Abandon Cuba,' After Oil Delivered

Following Russia’s delivery of 100,000 metric tons of crude oil to Cuba on March 29, several top-level officials have announced their government’s intention of continuing to make such deliveries, as Cuba continues to suffer the dire consequences of the U.S. oil blockade, in effect since Jan. 29. In her weekly briefing today, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that “Cuba is our closest friend and partner in the Caribbean and we don’t have the right to abandon it, so assistance to Cuba will continue.” Russia’s solidarity with Cuba is unyielding, she said, and demanded the U.S. lift its blockade “on an independent and sovereign state,” Al Jazeera reported her saying.