MOSCOW, May 27./TASS/. Moscow and Havana deem as unacceptable Washington’s attempts to reformat Latin America in the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine (envisaging US exceptional interests in the Western Hemisphere) which run counter to principles of the UN Charter, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint news conference after talks with Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla on Monday.

"We discussed Washington’s attempts to reformat that region [Latin America] as it sees fit in the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine that is being revived," the top Russian diplomat said. "Certainly, we don’t accept these approaches and we will be firmly defending provisions and principles of the UN Charter," Lavrov added.

"The experience of Cuba confirms the failure of the policy of dictation in international affairs and futility of power politics," he went on to say. "We see eye-to-eye with the Cuban friends as to inadmissibility of the illegitimate sanction pressure and confirm that we are categorically against the US economic, trade and financial blockade against Cuba. We will continue to resolutely support the rightful demands of Havana that this blockade be stopped without delay," the top diplomat added.

According to him, this position reflects a joint stance "of the overwhelming majority of global nations". "At the previous session of the UN General Assembly in December 2018, 189 nations voted in favor of the resolution demanding to abolish this illegitimate embargo, and only two (Israel and the US) voted against," Lavrov reiterated.