Russian diplomat leaves open Cuba, Venezuela army deployment

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and EMILY SCHULTHEIS
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Russian diplomat says that a Russian military deployment to Cuba and Venezuela can’t be excluded if tensions with the United States mount. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who led the Russian delegation in Monday’s talks in Geneva, said in televised remarks Thursday that he would neither confirm nor exclude the possibility that Russia could deploy military assets in Cuba and Venezuela. The negotiations in Geneva and Wednesday’s NATO-Russia meeting in Vienna failed to narrow the gap on Moscow’s security demands amid a buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine. Speaking in an interview with Russian RTVI TV broadcast, Ryabkov noted that “it all depends on the action by our U.S. counterparts.”