MOSCOW, June 10 -- For the past several months, Volodin and the Kremlin's diplomatic corps had been saying the same things about Cuba through speeches, press conferences, and ministerial statements. On Wednesday, the State Duma did something more consequential: it voted.

Russia's lower house of parliament adopted a formal resolution at a plenary session calling on the United Nations, international parliamentary organizations, and national legislatures worldwide to condemn Washington's policy toward Cuba and to demand the removal of American sanctions on Cuba, North Korea, and Iran. Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced the vote and framed it in terms that went beyond any previous Russian diplomatic statement on the subject, explicitly gro...