:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/3QHZYFNQ2AJ7NVXG3DF6L5JJ2I.jpg "The US warned that Russia threatens to export the conflict in Ukraine to Latin America using Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba")
Kerri Hannan, a US State Department official, warned Thursday that Russia is threatening to export the conflict in Ukraine to Latin America through military cooperation with Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.
“The commitment to democracy in the Hemisphere has never seemed so urgent, while Russia tramples on Ukraine’s democracy and threatens to export the Ukrainian crisis to the Americas, expanding its military cooperation with Cuba, Nicaragua and VenezuelaHannan said at a US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.
The official stressed that the majority of the region is opposed to the Russian invasion. “Our allies and allies have seen the stark contrast between our position on the Russian invasion and the position of the PRC (People’s Republic of China), whose diplomats have raised Kremlin propaganda and sought to shield Russia from condemnation in international bodies.”, he expressed.
On this issue, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a member of the committee, commented: “Russia is an acute problem and it is a current challenge. But it is a problem of five or ten years. China is a 100-year problem, both in the region and internationally.”
Last week, the head of the Southern Command considered Russia “the most immediate threat”. Laura Richardson commented: “Russia is increasing its involvement in the region, as Putin likes to keep his options open and have relations in our immediate foreign.” In addition, she recalled that in January the Russian deputy foreign minister said that he could neither affirm nor exclude that Russia would send military personnel to Cuba and Venezuela. “I’ve been in command for almost five months and what has impressed me most has been the extent to which China and Russia are aggressively expanding their influence in our neighborhood,” she said.
On March 1, with the invasion already launched in Ukraine, Putin and Maduro spoke by telephone.
Also on that day, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua defended the Kremlin and attacked the “double standards” of the international community that was trying to pass a resolution condemning the offensive in Ukraine in the UN General Assembly. The three countries, allies of Russia in the region, raised NATO’s enlargement towards the former satellite countries of the former Soviet Union in Eastern Europe to explain the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On Thursday, the United States announced new sanctions against Russia, this time targeting the tech sector, including Russia’s largest semiconductor maker.
Washington had already sanctioned Russian defense companies, and the Treasury deputy secretary announced Tuesday that other sectors “essential to the Kremlin’s ability to operate its war machine” will be targeted.
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