Washington's Strategy: Is Cuba Facing Isolation or Integration? Among those designated are Monica Milian Gomez, Cuba’s military attache in Russia, and Waldo Perez Cortes, her counterpart in China. The objective is clear: to sever the financial and technological arteries that allow Cuba to sustain its military apparatus through Eastern partnerships. Espionage and the Ukrainian FactorSecretary of State Marco Rubio has characterized Cuba as a forward operating base for Russia, China, and Iran. A central pillar of the current U.S. argument is that Cuba is being used as a platform to facilitate Russian military logistics and intelligence gathering.