Russia to Continue Pursuing Cooperation Policy in Latin America

Moscow will follow the US policy with respect to the countries of Latin America in light of US President Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Mike Pompeo to head the State Department, Alexander Schetinin, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Latin American department, said on Thursday.

"We have heard everything that was said with respect to Cuba, we have made comments assessing the US policy pursued by the former state secretary [Rex Tillerson]. Let's see what Pompeo's course will be like," Schetinin said, answering a question about whether Moscow expected any changes in US policy in Latin America, in particular in relation to Cuba.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump announced the replacement of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with current CIA director Pompeo, which has yet to be confirmed by the US Senate.

In late 2014, the United States and Cuba expressed their intention to start work on the normalization of relations between the two countries. In July 2015, Washington and Havana restored diplomatic relations. Subsequently, the two governments have signed several bilateral agreements.

However, US President Donald Trump declared the abolition of the policy of his predecessor Barack Obama aimed at the normalization of bilateral relations with Cuba in June.