Sanctioned Russian jet touches down in Cuba

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A Russian cargo plane typically used to transfer military equipment landed at a military airfield in Havana Sunday night, echoing flight patterns seen ahead of the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.

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The U.S.-sanctioned Ilyushin Il-76, operated by Russian state-linked airline Aviacon Zitotrans, was tracked landing at San Antonio de los Baños Airfield, a Cuban military installation roughly 30 miles south of Havana, according to public flight data. Flight-tracking records show the aircraft stopped in St. Petersburg and Sochi in Russia; Mauritania, Africa; and the Dominican Republic.

Each landing would have required approval from host governments, offering a window into which countries are continuing to permit Russian military-linked aviation activity despite Western sanctions. The same aircraft conducted flights to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba in late October 2025, as tensions between Washington and Caracas escalated.

That movement preceded U.S. military action in Venezuela that ultimately ended Maduro’s rule — a sequence U.S. officials and analysts have since pointed to as a warning indicator when evaluating similar Russian aviation activity in the region.

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