Nikolai Patrushev is Vladimir Putin’s closest ally and a key member of the autocrat’s inner circle. He served as Director of the Federal Security Services (FSB) from 1999 to 2008 and ever since he has been Secretary of Russian Security Council. Patrushev was instrumental in Putin’s rise to power in 1999. His visit to Cuba is a reminder that the Cuban dictatorship is Putin’s key ally in the war against Ukraine and an enemy of global democracy. Patrushev’s visit to Cuba’s Interior Ministry headquarters reinforces the argument that dictatorships exchange repressive methods to cling on to power.

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