14ymedio, Havana, 30 November 2023 — The Cuban Army is interested in buying Polonez-M missiles from Belarus, with a range of 300 kilometers and reputation for being “the most dangerous artillery system in Europe.” The acquisition of the weapons, actually manufactured by China, would be under negotiation outside of a cooperation agreement with Minsk that the island’s military agreed upon during a meeting held in Havana, according to a statement published this Wednesday by the Belarusian Ministry of Defense.
Neither the Chief of the General Staff of the Cuban Army, Roberto Legrá – who signed the agreement with the Belarusian delegation, headed by Colonel Valery Revenko – nor the other military authorities of the country have revealed why Cuba needs the rockets, installed on MZKT-7930 launch vehicles.
The Belta agency, which claimed to have learned of Cuba’s interest in the missiles through information from the Belarusian Army itself, assured that they are part of a bilateral plan that will be executed starting in 2024. The sale of the Polonez has great geostrategic importance. Insisting that they were manufactured in Belarus is a way of hiding the sale of sophisticated weapons from China to a Russian ally, closely linked to the conflict with Ukraine. This is a violation, albeit indirect, of Beijing’s commitment not to deliver weapons to Russia in the context of the war with Kyiv.
The delegation that traveled to Havana, led by Colonel Valery Revenko, also visited a tank division and an air defense brigade in the Western Military Region of the Cuban Army. It has not been revealed what are the other components of the “cooperation” program between both countries.
Despite Minsk’s attempts to deny that the Polonez missiles come from China, there is sufficient evidence that Belarus is onl
