Russia plans to have its companies help Cuba to develop its oil and natural gas resources as part of a close energy cooperation, a senior Russian official said on Thursday, just as Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev began a two-day visit to Cuba amid growing U.S.-Cuba tension. Russia and Cuba have signed a roadmap for Russian companies to develop Cuba’s energy sector in a bid to reduce import dependence and raise energy security, Sergei Prikhodko, First Deputy Head of the Russian Government Office, said on Thursday, as carried by Russian news agency TASS. “The main goal of the program is to reduce the dependency of Cuba from the import of energy resources and increase the country’s energy security,” Prikhodko said, noting that the communist-run island—a close ally of Nicolas Maduro’s Venezuela—is also interested in cooperation in developing its natural resources. “The work on these and other promising areas of […]