Cuban President Raul Castro sought on Wednesday to revive Soviet-era ties with Moscow as he paid the first visit to Russia by a Cuban leader since the Cold War.
The visit comes as both countries watch for change in the foreign policy of the US, which came under heavy Russian criticism in the era of former US president George W. Bush and which maintains a blockade of the island. Castro, who took over as president from his ailing brother Fidel in 2006 and arrived in a Russian presidential plane dispatched from Moscow, said his visit would expand relations with Russia — healing a rift that appeared with the Soviet Union’s collapse and the end of Soviet subsidies.
“We know what happens on the planet when equality is destroyed, when they start wars, attacks and are unjust in their relations,” the 77-year-old leader said in a clear reference to the US, quoted by ITAR-TASS.
“We, like many others, see Russia’s rebirth as a positive factor,” Castro told the Russian news agency. “Relations between Russia and Cuba are excellent and this visit to Moscow will serve to strengthen ties between our countries.”
Castro’s visit was to begin in earnest when he was due to be hosted yesterday by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at a country residence west of Moscow usually used for special guests of the Russian leader.
Formal talks between the two delegations will take place today at the Kremlin.
Cuban-Russian relations took a turn for the better in November when Medvedev visited Havana on a Latin American tour aimed at restoring what he called “privileged” Soviet-era relations with the region. Last month a group of Russian warships visited Havana on a tour seen as a deliberate attempt to challenge US dominance in Latin America, although US officials have remained sanguine about such Russian manoeuvres.
On the current visit the focus will be on tying up a raft of business deals that include plans for a Russian consortium to explore oil fields off Cuba’s coast in the Gulf of Mexico and plans for cooperation in nickel production on the island, officials have said.
Russia also may well reaffirm its support for the lifting of the US economic blockade of Cuba.
“Our country has consistently stood for normalizing the situation around Cuba, for its fully fledged reintegration into regional and world processes,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in comments released on Wednesday.
“What is important is that Latin American countries are united in their efforts to overcome Havana’s isolation,” Lavrov said.
Russia expects that new US President Barack Obama’s promises of change “will help to strengthen stability in international relations and have a favorable effect on the situation in Latin America,” Lavrov said.
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