The American explained the reason for Trump's pressure on Cuba

Pavel Koshkin, a senior researcher at the Arbatov Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told on Friday, May 22, why the United States has re-activated the "Cuban direction" and how likely a military operation against Cuba is.

According to the expert, Washington is increasing pressure on Havana, but a military scenario is unlikely now. American leader Donald Trump is trying to expand the foreign policy agenda and show the United States' readiness to act toughly in Latin America, he noted.

"As I understand it, Trump is trying to diversify the agenda and emphasize his intentions to strengthen US influence in the Latin American region, which he has already voiced several times. This thesis was clearly stated in the US national security strategy, which was released last year," Koshkin told Mail News.

The political scientist believes that the new round of pressure on Cuba fits into the previous line of the Trump administration — Washington consistently uses the Cuban issue as a tool of foreign policy pressure and demonstration of influence in the region.

According to Koshkin, the American authorities actually returned the old plot to the agenda in order to increase pressure on Havana.

"The United States just "dusted off" the old plot to increase pressure on Cuba. I think this could be a well—planned action, as this is how political technologies work, which are used to increase pressure on an opponent," he said.

According to him, Washington is likely to limit itself to economic, political and informational pressure.

"The military scenario is unprofitable from the point of view of waging an information war against internal opponents, and economic pressure is more promising. A military operation may provoke another discontent among Democrats — discussions about the legitimacy of such actions will begin again, as was the case with Iran," Koshkin concluded.

Pirates in the Caribbean: Cuba is preparing the population for an attack by the United States

About 3 thousand Russians live on the island — will they be evacuated?

On May 20, Trump said that, despite making accusations against the former president of Cuba, Washington would not escalate the situation in relations with the island state, according to 360.ru . He also called the indictment of Raul Castro a very important moment not only for Cuban Americans, but also for anyone who wants to return to Cuba to their relatives.

Prior to that, The New York Times reported on May 16 that the American authorities were considering putting pressure on Castro, including through criminal prosecution and subsequent kidnapping, similar to former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.