A Panda and a Bear in the Caribbean

... Cooperation (MTC) session with Foreign States on January 27, 2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin encouraged those present to seek out new markets, in particular mentioning Latin America. Soon afterwards, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu paid a visit to Russia’s old friends in the region: Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. The three countries’ leaders are known to have difficult relations with the United States, and are under U.S. trade restrictions, pushing them toward Russia and China. China’s economic position in the region is much stronger than ...