Cuban leader Raul Castro sought on Wednesday to revive an historic but flagging friendship with Russia as he met Vladimir Putin for talks on economic relief for his sanctions-plagued communist state. The Cuban leader's second visit to Russia since his 2006 assumption of power from older brother Fidel extends a recent revival of contacts that had ground to a halt when the Soviet Union fell apart two decades ago.
The Russian president called Cuba "not only our old partner but also our friend" and asked the younger Castro to pass on Russia's best wishes to the ailing 1950s revolution mastermind Fidel. "We have had periods of different relations and they are more pragmatic today," Putin noted. "Still, everything that we amassed in past years is now a part of our shared wealth." The 81-year-old Castro - arriving in Russia after missions to communist China and Vietnam - noted that "we live in a very complicated world" before the meeting was closed to the press.
Castro began his visit by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then meeting Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev for talks the Russian cabinet chief said focused on "ways in which we could use each other's potential." The Kommersant business daily said Cuba was particularly interested in winning military agreements that could help Castro modernise his Soviet-era force of outdated tanks and submarines as well as other technology. Kommersant noted however that this would put Russia's state arms export agency in conflict with US sanctions and that a 2010 request by Cuba to retrofit its Kalashnikov ammunition production plant has gone unfulfilled.