March 20, Pozirk. Belarusian General Staff Chief Viktar Hulevič has met with his Cuban counterpart Roberto Legrá Sotolongo and Cuba’s minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces Álvaro López Miera during his surprise visit to Havana.
The parties confirmed their “mutual interest in further strengthening the Belarusian-Cuban partnership,” the defense ministry’s press office reported on March 20.
Hulevič’s Havana trip came days after the Belarusian Armed Forces launched a comprehensive combat-readiness drill in response to NATO’s Steadfast Defender, a multi-domain exercise, incorporating land, air, sea, cyber and space operations.
In mid-March, General Hulevič, who seemed to be in charge, said that the exercise would be scaled up.
On January 30, Defense Minister Viktar Chrenin and López Miera signed documents on bilateral military cooperation. The Belarusian official described Cuba as “Belarus’ strategic ally in the Western hemisphere.”
