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In the darkest days of the Cold War, Cuba was at the centre of tensions between the US and the Soviet Union, with the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis bringing the world closer to all-out nuclear war than ever before. Ever since, Cuba’s relationship with the US has been frosty at best and the legacy of the island’s close diplomatic ties with Moscow remains strong to this day. Now, the island’s bond with the Kremlin is as strong as ever and current Russian supremo Vladimir Putin appears hell-bent on strengthening it further.

Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canal met with Putin in Moscow in November, saying he wanted to give a “new impulse” to bilateral relations. The two leaders discussed military cooperation, as well as matters on healthcare and tourism. Meanwhile, Yuri Borisov, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, went on a much-publicised visit to Cuba that same month. Borisov, who oversees Russia’s military-industrial complex and military-technical relations with foreign countries, agreed on contracts of more than £200million in the military sphere alone.

Vladimir Putin is strengthening Russia's links to Cuba

Cuba's Lourdes monitoring site

The Jamestown Foundation – a Washington-based research institute launched as a platform to support Soviet defectors – believes it could indicate a move to re-open Russian military sites in Cuba. The foundation’s November report reads: “This led to speculation in both Russia and the West that this meant Moscow was about to reopen the Lourdes monitoring site that it closed 16 years ago, and possibly open additional bases on the island as well.” The think-tank added that re-opening the base would “duplicate rather than significantly add to Russian abilities to monitor US activities in the Caribbean”. However, the report stated: “If the Kremlin leader should decide to establish additional bases in Cuba, as some Russian commentators are now suggesting, that would be a different matter altogether – particularly if he succeeds in this goal.”

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump

The Cuban Missile Crisis put the world on the brink of World War 3