Cuban and Venezuelan dictatorships meet with Russia for security force cooperation

The Minister of the Interior of the Cuban regime, Major General Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, recently arrived in Russia to participate in the XI International Conference of High Representatives for Security Affairs, which will also be attended by the Secretary General of the National Defense Council of Venezuela, Jose Ornelas Ferreira.

General Nikolai Patrushev, former director of the Russian intelligence service FSB and current secretary of the Russian Security Council, held bilateral meetings in Moscow with his counterparts from the Venezuelan and Cuban regimes, the Kremlin authorities reported in a statement cited by Sputnik.

According to the press service of the Russian Security Council, Álvarez Casas and Ornelas Ferreira have already arrived in Russia. With the secretary general of the National Defense Council of Venezuela, "specific activities were agreed upon in the framework of cooperation between the security forces of Russia and Venezuela," the official media reported.

This is the second time in less than three months that a meeting between Álvarez Casas and Nikolai Pátrushev has been publicly disclosed. Last March, the senior Russian official traveled to Havana at the head of a delegation of intelligence officials and also met with General Raúl Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

With Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, Pátrushev "advanced consultations regarding cooperation in the field of security and threats from the West," according to an official note quoted by RT, an international news television channel financed by the Kremlin. .

During his trip to the island, Patrushev carried the narrative that supposedly "the West is investing unprecedented resources to destabilize the situation in Russia and Cuba," according to the Moscow media.

In addition, he reported that "the parties discussed the deepening of Russian-Cuban cooperation, considered the strategic priorities of bilateral interaction, as well as addressed various problems on an international scale, including the conflict in Ukraine."

The consultations included a debate on the joint efforts of both countries to counter possible "color revolutions" and the "destructive activities" that NGOs are said to carry out, according to a statement published by the Russian Security Council, quoted by RT.