Madrid/A direct air route between Moscow and Mexico, with a scale in Havana, would be the first step of a “diplomatic and commercial offensive” in Russia in Latin America. The strategy was detailed by the Director of the International Economic Forum of St. Petersburg, Aleksey Valkov, in an interview with the Mexican weekly Process.
In it, the Kremlin official says that his country plans to “expand his economic presence” in the continent “starting with Mexico”, governed by the leftist Claudia Sheinbaum. To this administration, says Valkov, already presented the proposal of that air route last April, in a business forum, with the intention of creating “a corridor between Yucatan, Cuba and Russia”.
The objective, said the deputy director of the Rosconress Foundation, dedicated to assembling international forums, “it is not simply attracting tourists, but to build a direct channel for entrepreneurs and investors, an air highway for business.” And even more: he would be the first step for an extended plan in time.
“What Russia poses is a long -term repositioning, at a time when neoliberalism loses strength”
“The entrance point is full of geopolitical symbolism, Cuba, governed by Miguel Díaz-Canel, the closest ally of the Kremlin in the region,” he says Process. “Beyond cultural tourism – although present -, what Russia poses is a long -term repositioning, at a time when neoliberalism loses strength and Latin America reconfigures as an open terrain for new economic alliances.”
A second phase, explains the magazine, focuses on much more strategic sectors. This June, in the St. Petersburg forum, Russia has sought to “capitalize on the new Mexican political cycle with the energy reform promoted by President Sheinbaum”, with an “explicit” interest: gas, oil, renewables and nuclear energy.
The proposals referred to by Valkov a Process They include the “modernization of the Mexican energy infrastructure, as well as a possible agreement to supply uranium to the nuclear plant of Laguna Verde” and offer “advanced technology, such as small modular reactors, useful to bring energy to remote regions of the country.”
Just two days ago, in addition, the Russian Embassy in Mexico announced its willingness to supply liquefied natural gas, as well as “Share technologies specialized for the extraction of crude oil in adverse geological conditions, and processes to improve the efficiency in the refining”.
If in 2022 they arrived from Russia 2.8 million dollars in foreign investment, in 2024 the figure was 86.4 million dollars
Moscow’s interest in the North American country gained strength during the previous administration, of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who also made an unpublished approach to Cuba. Thus, he invited Miguel Díaz-Canel to the presidential gallery of Independence Day, something that had never happened to a foreign president, and initiated the import of doctors and the oil donation.
Process It provides eloquent numbers, based on official data, of the Mexican Economy Ministry: if in 2022 they arrived from Russia 2.8 million dollars in foreign investment, in 2024 the figure was 86.4 million dollars.
The penetration of Russia in the continent is something they have warned of various specialists. In a November 2023 report, for example, United States Institute for Peace (USIP) warned that Moscow promoted a “new anti -liberal wave” against Western values headed by the United States through a continuous campaign of misinformation.
This weapon, said the long document, was an “ecosystem” made up of media related to Moscow and networks of influential actors – periodists, politicians, diplomats and intellectuals – both from the left and right.
They had achieved a successful strategy, in the words of the authors of the report, exploiting distrust of the US, which they characterize as a mere extractor of resources and promoter of a harmful economic policy for Latin America, and, on the contrary, presenting Russia as a “friendly” country and a less “intrusive” alternative.
