Raul Castro on milestone Russia visit
RUSSIA: Cuban President Raul Castro sought 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 United States, which came under heavy Russian criticism in
the era of George W. Bush and which maintains a blockade of the
Communist 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 United States,
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 begins in earnest when he is hosted on Thursday by
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 the
following day at the Kremlin.
Relations already took a turn for the better last November when
Medvedev visited Havana on a Latin American tour aimed at restoring what
he called “privileged” Soviet-era relations with the region.
In December 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.
Moscow, Thursday, AFP |