Russia vowed Thursday to continue providing “active support” to Cuba and expressed “total solidarity” with the island nation after the U.S. indicted its former president on murder charges and deployed a naval carrier strike group to the Caribbean amid reports President Donald Trump is weighing military action against the government in Havana. “We reaffirm our total solidarity with Cuba,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement in which she condemned U.S. “intimidation, unilateral restrictive measures, threats and blackmail.” “We will continue to actively support the brotherly Cuban people during this incredibly challenging time.

Russia said on Thursday that it would provide active support to Cuba despite attempts by the United States to intimidate and tighten the “sanctions noose”

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow strongly condemns any attempts to blatantly interfere in the internal affairs of the sovereign state