Russia has growing list of Latin American friends: Lavrov
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In light of rising tensions between the West and Russia, Moscow affirms that it has firm alliances with Latin America.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, former Bolivian President Evo Morales, and former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki
Russia traditionally maintains close and good relations with Latin American countries, and the number of countries allied with Moscow in the region has been increasing as of late, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the State Duma on Wednesday.
"We actually have very close, good, long-standing relations with Latin American countries. Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are our closest partners and friends. However, lately, the number of [our] Latin American friends has increased," Lavrov told the lower house of the Russian parliament.
Concurrently, Russia maintains very close contact with other Latin American countries, namely Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil as a BRICS member state.
Lavrov also stressed that the new Chilean government was "interested in ensuring that relations with the Russian Federation do not fall victim to the so-called Monroe Doctrine, which Washington remains committed to."
The 'Trump doctrine'
The United States reiterated its commitment to the doctrine under the Trump administration, and, despite the Biden administration never officially stating this, Washington still perceives Latin America as untouchable, the top diplomat asserted.
"Although everyone understands that these realities have long since changed," he noted.
According to Lavrov, the left-leaning political and a more conservative political process in Latin America and the Caribbean are evident. And the US "is openly raising alarm bells about this development," he highlighted.
He did not refrain from pointing out that Moscow has had consistently developing cooperation with the Community of Latin America and Caribbean Countries (CELAC).
"We have a mechanism of meetings between the foreign ministers of Russia and the Troika or the Quartet of CELAC," Lavrov clarified.
He also backed what he said by citing Mexico City, "This was recently confirmed by our Mexican colleagues who are now in charge of this format."
Cooperation between Russia and Latin America goes back to before the cold war with the West, when the Soviet Union allied with several states in the continent, mainly Cuba, and utilized its alliance to get at Washington.
The Soviet-Cuban alliance led to what is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Russia had previously said escalating tensions over Ukraine could lead to a reoccurrence of the Cuban missile crisis, which took place in 1962 and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
"If things continue as they are, it is entirely possible by the logic of events to suddenly wake up and see yourself in something similar," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stressed.
Russia sees that the West is utilizing rising tensions between Kyiv and Moscow to deploy arms on the Russian borders.
The West is accusing Russia of planning an invasion of its western neighbor despite Moscow dismissing these allegations.
Russia insists that it has no intention of attacking any country, seeing the Western accusations as a pretext to deploy more NATO military equipment close to Russia's borders.
