Russia Pledges Support for Cuba as Washington Escalates Sanctions and Criminal Charges

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters at a Moscow press briefing on May 22 that Russia would provide "the most active support" to Cuba and "reaffirm[s] full solidarity" with the government of President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Zakharova condemned what she characterized as "gross interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, intimidation and the use of unilateral restrictive measures, threats and blackmail" by Washington. She did not specify what form Russian support would take. She stated only that Havana had "already been briefed on the specific details and core aspects of this support."

The declaration followed two escalatory actions by the Trump administration in as many weeks. On May 1, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14404, imposing new sanctions on the Cuban regime under the authority of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq. E.O. 14404 provides broad authority to designate parties participating in key sectors of Cuba's economy and, critically, authorizes secondary sanctions against foreign financial institutions engaged in dealings with designated persons. Six days after the executive order, the State Department made the first designations under the new authority, naming several Cuban entities and individuals as Specially Designated Nationals, including GAESA, the military-owned conglomerate that controls large portions of Cuba's commercial economy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated 11 Cuban regime officials and 3 government organizations, including officials and military figures associated with Cuba's security apparatus. The May 1 executive order built on E.O. 14380, which Trump signed in January 2026 declaring a national emergency with respect to Cuba, and which established a process to impose tariffs on goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba.

The second pressure point arrived on May 20, when the Justice Department unsealed a superseding indictment against former Cuban President Raúl Castro, age 94, and five co-defendants. The indictment charges conduct arising from the Feb. 24, 1996, shootdown of two unarmed civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue over international waters, resulting in the deaths of four Americans: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales. Castro was indicted in Miami on April 23 on one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of aircraft. The Florida grand jury returned the indictment in April; a judge granted prosecutors' request to unseal it on May 20. Conviction on the murder and conspiracy counts carries a maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment; the destruction-of-aircraft counts carry up to five years each. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the charges at a ceremony in Miami, calling it "the first time in nearly 70 years" that senior Cuban regime leadership had been charged in the United States for acts of violence resulting in American deaths. The indictment alleges that Castro, who then led Cuba's armed forces, "met with military leaders and authorized them to use decisive and deadly action" against Brothers to the Rescue planes in January 1996, and that "all orders to kill by the Cuban military traveled through [the armed forces'] chain of command with [Raúl Castro] and Fidel Castro as the final decision makers." The case has prior criminal history: the United States has previously convicted only one person in connection with the shootdown, Gerardo Hernández, the leader of a Cuban espionage ring, who was sentenced to life in prison but was released by President Barack Obama in 2014 as part of a diplomatic normalization effort.

The sanctions and indictment together reflect a "maximum pressure" posture that the Trump administration has pursued against Havana since taking office. On Jan. 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order revoking President Biden's removal of Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. Also in January 2025, the State Department re-issued the Cuba Restricted List and added more than 200 entities to it, and in June 2025 the White House re-issued National Security Presidential Memorandum-5. U.S. Southern Command announced this week the deployment of the aircraft carrier Nimitz and its escort warships in the southern Caribbean Sea. President Trump has vowed to conduct a "friendly takeover" of Cuba if authorities in Havana do not undertake sweeping political and economic reforms. Secretary Rubio issued a video message in Spanish addressed directly to the Cuban public, outlining a path to democracy and indicating the U.S. could supply $100 million in aid, conditioned on the dismantling of GAESA.

Moscow's rhetorical backing carries structural limitations. On May 15, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pledged "political, diplomatic, and material support" to Cuba during a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS foreign ministers' summit in New Delhi. In March, Russia sent an oil tanker to Cuba in what it described as humanitarian assistance, in an apparent act of defiance toward U.S. energy restrictions. However, Russian analysts have noted that Moscow, entangled in the Ukraine conflict, can only offer genuine political support to Havana, lacking the capacity for economic or military rescue comparable to the Soviet era. Cuba's energy and economic position has deteriorated markedly since January, when Venezuelan oil supplies were cut off following the U.S. military operation that resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. The parallel with Venezuela is not lost on Washington: the Justice Department's indictment of Castro could be used as legal grounds to arrest Cuban leadership, as the United States did with Maduro.