Castro, Putin Resume Dialogue

Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to end his official visit to Cuba early Friday, before taking off for a weekend at the Caribbean island's world-famous beach resort of Varadero.

Putin was scheduled to lay a wreath, visit a biotechnology center, and hold a news conference, before heading to Varadero, a two-hour drive out of Havana along Cuba's northern coastline, for a weekend in the sun.

The Russian, who left a cold Moscow winter behind, was personally invited to Varadero by President Fidel Castro, who is expected to join him for at least part of the time until he flies out from the resort to Canada on Sunday.

Reaching out to an old ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Fidel Castro about reviving Moscow's Soviet-era friendship with communist Cuba, but suggested it will come without the handouts of the past.

"We decided we will build a relationship between our countries based upon the warm feelings and high-level relations that already exist," Putin said Thursday after meeting with the Cuban president, who welcomed a Russian leader to Cuba for the first time since the 1991 Soviet collapse.

But the only solid economic agreement to emerge from Thursday's talks was $50 million in commercial credit from Russia to Cuba and even that was merely an extension of an earlier credit line.

The amount pales in comparison with the multibillion-dollar subsidies of the Soviet era, when Cuba's location, just 90 miles from Florida, made the island nation a peerless Cold War ally of the Kremlin. The subsidies were equal to 20 percent of Cuba's gross national product.

The generous aid stopped when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev cut subsidies shortly after his 1989 visit to Cuba and then added to the insult by deciding to withdraw Soviet troops without consulting Havana. The sharp economic crisis that ensued has fed anti-Russian feelings in Cuba.

Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, never visited Cuba, reflecting both his disdain for communism and economically struggling Russia's worldwide retreat. Trade between Cuba and Russia was $1 billion last year, down from about $3.6 billion in 1991, Putin said.

Putin has made a point of restoring ties with old Soviet allies. His cold and formal style differed sharply from the bear hugs and kisses of the Soviet times, but after meeting Castro, Putin extolled the old friendship and pledged to strengthen it.

At the same time, however, he emphasized the need for a more practical relationship this time around.

"We must clearly and precisely realize what in our relationship has promise and what is the heritage of the past," Putin said.

Russian and Cuban officials signed agreements in the economic, legal and medical spheres, but failed to reach a solution on uncompleted Soviet-era projects in Cuba that would cost billions of dollars to finish.

AP

Economic agreement signed by both leaders.

Putin did not push Cuba on paying off its Soviet-era debt to Russia , estimated by Cubans at $11 billion, while some Russian media have put it above $20 billion. Neither leader mentioned the debt Thursday.

They were on the same page in a discussion of international affairs, stressing the need to develop a multipolar world, a reference to what they see as U.S. attempts at global domination. In a joint statement, Putin and Castro condemned the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba and assailed American plans to develop a missile-defense system.

Meeting at the Palace of the Revolution, where a military band struck up both countries' anthems before they went inside for talks, Putin and Castro also agreed to further political dialogue and economic cooperation.

Putin later visited an electronic intelligence center in Lourdes that is the only Russian military facility left in Cuba. Accompanied by Castro, he also visited a nearby Russian military cemetery and laid flowers to a monument honoring fallen soldiers.

The Russian president ended the day with a state dinner after meeting with Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly and Castro's point man on Cuba-U.S. affairs.

Putin's wife, Lyudmila, met with teachers and students of Russian at the University of Havana. In a brief interview with Associated Press Television News, she praised Cuba's beauty and the kindness of its people.

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