Moscow - Russia on Thursday denounced the new U.S. tightening of blockade imposed for more than 50 years to Cuba, threatening the application of Chapter III of the extraterritorial Helms-Burton Act.

Washington reinforces the siege around Cuba by announcing the possible imposition of lawsuits against some 200 Cuban companies as part of the implementation of Chapter III of a law approved in 1996, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

For more than 20 years, the U.S. presidents have maintained the moratorium to implement the aforementioned chapter, but it seems that, with the administration of current U.S. President Donald Trump, this changed and now decides illegal measures against Cuba, the spokeswoman stated.

The United States talks all the time about the economic and even humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and the situation in Cuba, the spokesperson said.

But we would like to know what would happen to the economy of the United States if only 10 percent of the restrictions imposed by Washington itself on Cuba and Venezuela were applied, Zakharova asked.

Surely, the U.S. economy would have precipitously collapsed, the Russian diplomat noted in reference to multi-millions in losses caused by the U.S. blockade against Cuba and the policy of sanctions against Venezuela.

Zakharova denounced the double standard Washington put into practice in case of Cuba and Venezuela when speaking of democracy and humanitarian conditions and reiterated that the U.S. economic, commercial and financial siege against Cuba is a historical relic.

Although after several failures in its hostile policy against Venezuela, the U.S. strategy in Latin America is clearer, that is, to depose uncomfortable governments and recover the application of the infamous Monroe Doctrine, she denounced.