The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, confirmed this Friday that his Government maintains contacts with officials from the United States administration to encourage dialogue, amidst Washington's onslaught against the island, according to international media. The exchanges, supervised by him and by revolutionary leader Raúl Castro, “have been aimed at finding solutions through dialogue” to the bilateral differences between the two nations, explained the Cuban statesman. Likewise, the contacts “have been favored by international partners,” according to the Actualidad RT site, which was consulted by the Argentine News Agency. “It is not the first time that Cuba enters into this type of negotiation,” stated the Cuban president in a televised address. Díaz-Canel referred to the current difficult situation of the island with the “energy blockade and the shortage.” “It has been more than three months since no fuel ship has entered our country,” he pointed out, to then affirm that work is being done “under very adverse conditions that have an impact.” Russia had issued a warning Before Díaz-Canel's announcement was known, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, had reaffirmed Moscow's principled position on the inadmissibility of the economic and political pressure of the United States on Cuba. Lavrov made this statement after a telephone conversation held with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, published by Xinhua. This is stated in a communique from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to which Lavrov also expressed his firm support to the fraternal Cuban people in their efforts to defend the sovereignty of the State and the right to choose its own path of development. During the conversation, they discussed key issues of bilateral cooperation and the international agenda, as well as the upcoming 23rd meeting of the Russia-Cuba Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation.
