^aDepartment of Politics and International Relations, University of Aberdeen, Edward Wright Building, Dunbar Street, Aberdeen AB24 3QY, UK. E-mail: mervyn.bain@abdn.ac.uk

Abstract

The focus of this article is the relationship that developed between Russia and Cuba in the years since the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The reasons for both the deterioration in relations in the early 1990s and their improvement from the middle of the decade will be analysed. A variety of different causes are important for both but significantly the improvement in the relationship has taken place when globally the neoliberal economic model has been pre-eminent. This article will argue that chief among the reasons for closer Russian–Cuban relations has been the neoliberal economic model.