An agreement on Russian military cooperation with Cuba

Honour guards hold Russian and Cuban flags in Havana, Cuba.
Photo: Reuters

Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament) has ratified an intergovernmental agreement on military cooperation with Cuba, TASS informs.

"The military cooperation agreement between the government of the Russian Federation and the government of the Republic of Cuba, signed in Havana on March 13, 2025, and in Moscow on March 19, 2025, is hereby ratified," the upper house said in a document.

The move to ratify the agreement "will provide legal grounds to define the goals, areas and forms of bilateral military cooperation," and will also contribute to strengthening and developing relations between Russia and Cuba in this field.

The ratification by the Russian State Duma of the agreement on military cooperation between Russia and Cuba can be viewed as Moscow’s timely response to Washington’s threats to supply Tomahawk cruise missiles for the benefit of the Kiev regime, Alexander Stepanov, military expert with the Institute of Law and National Security at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, told TASS.

"This is about a symmetrical response to the potential supply of Tomahawks. The ratified agreement maximally expands our military cooperation and allows, within the framework of bilateral interaction and in coordination with the government of the Republic of Cuba, to deploy virtually any offensive systems on the island’s territory," the expert explained.

He added that to stabilize the balance of power and establish parity, the deployment of modern types of weapons to Cuba, such as the Iskander operational-tactical missile systems and the Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile system, would be a justified response to NATO’s actions as a whole. It would create an effective deterrent capable of reaching strategically important targets on US territory, thereby maintaining the balance of power and parity in offensive capabilities.

The document, signed in March 2025, establishes a legal framework for joint operations, training, experience exchange and military equipment supplies, granting Russian military personnel and specialists immunity from Cuban jurisdiction. For Havana, this agreement is a guarantee of sovereignty protection and access to advanced military technologies amid increasing US pressure in the Caribbean region. The resumption of full-scale military partnership with Cuba signals Russia’s return to a region traditionally considered by the US as its zone of influence.

It contains many provisions. For example,

on joint exercises on land, in the air, and at sea,
on joint military training,
on intelligence sharing,
on the provision of military assistance in the form of combat equipment,
on the deployment of military bases.

"The agreement is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations between Russia and Cuba in the military sphere, as well as strategic cooperation on a long-term basis," said Viktor Bondarev, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security.

It is noted that the agreement is concluded for 5 years with an automatic extension for subsequent 5-year periods.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, the upper house of the Duma ratified an agreement that “will provide legal grounds to define the goals, areas and forms of bilateral military cooperation,” suggesting that such cooperation already existed between the two countries informally, ‘Breitbart’ writes with concern.

The agreement is one step below the commitments of the mutual defense treaty that Russia signed with North Korea in June 2024, which preceded Pyongyang admitting that it had deployed troops to the war theater against Ukraine in Kursk.

Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro also announced on Tuesday that he had solidified a “strategic partnership” with Russia that could allow Moscow greater ability to leverage influence in the Western Hemisphere, challenging the United States.

The matter of military cooperation with Russia is separate from that of the “strategic partnership” with Venezuela, but related, as Cuba and Venezuela are close geopolitical partners. Maduro announced the signing of the decree for cooperation on Tuesday, accompanied by Russian Ambassador to Caracas Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov.

“On October 7, I was invited to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who, in a solemn atmosphere and in the presence of the country’s leading TV channels, signed a decree on the entry into force of the Russia-Venezuela strategic partnership and cooperation agreement,” the ambassador told TASS.

The Venezuelan agreement, according to local media, goes beyond the scope of military cooperation, touching on the “development of mechanisms that facilitate commerce and investment without depending on Western financial systems” – effectively facilitating the bypassing of human rights sanctions on both countries.

The Russian government has for years used Venezuela to intimidate the United States militarily. In 2018, Russian and Venezuelan news agencies reported that the Maduro regime would allow the Russian government to build a military base on the island of La Orchila. Russia also flew nuclear-capable jets in Venezuela, mere hundreds of miles from the United States, that year.

…Venezuela has begun deploying its air defense systems across the country: