Friday, September 18, 2009

Russian warships to visit Cuba

Russian warships to visit Cuba
09:4418/09/2009

HAVANA, September 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russian warships are expected to
pay another visit to Cuba as part of military cooperation between Moscow
and Havana, the chief of Russia's General Staff said on Friday.

Gen. Nikolai Makarov arrived in Cuba on a working visit on Monday, met
with President Raul Castro and the country's military leadership, and
visited several military installations.

"We are currently preparing a plan for the ships' visit," Makarov said.
"Undoubtedly, it would be closely linked to our military cooperation
with the Republic of Cuba."

He did not disclose the exact date of the visit.

During the last December's Caribbean tour, Russia's Admiral Chabanenko
destroyer, escorted by the Ivan Bubnov tanker and the SB-406 rescue tug,
visited Havana for the first time since the Cold War.

Cuban-Russian military ties were drastically scaled down after Russia's
surprise close of an electronic listening post in Lourdes in 2001.
However, military ties have been improving since the visit of Russian
Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev and Russian Deputy Prime
Minister Igor Sechin in July last year.

Russian warships to visit Cuba | Top Russian news and analysis online |
'RIA Novosti' newswire (18 September 2009)
http://en.rian.ru/world/20090918/156170905.html

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