By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer. Yahoo! December 13,
2000
HAVANA (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) will enjoy
a respite from the Moscow winter when he leaves behind his heavy overcoat and
official protocol to relax for two days in the sun and sand between state visits
to Cuba and Canada.
Putin, who is scheduled to arrive on the island at 11 p.m. EST Wednesday,
plans to head out to Cuba's Varadero beach resort early Friday afternoon for a
two-day private rest before continuing on to Canada shortly before noon on
Sunday, said Russian officials, who spoke here Tuesday on condition of
anonymity.
The officials said that Putin's beach holiday was strictly personal and that
there would be no news media access to his activities during his stay in
Varadero.
Putin will be the first Russian president to visit the communist island
since the collapse of the Soviet Union a decade ago. Trade and ways to revive a
decades-old relationship that thrived during the Cold War era are expected to
top the agenda on Putin's trip
In Moscow, Putin said Moscow is not pushing ideological ties with Cuba, and
instead wants practical deals that will benefit Russian business.
"Unfortunately for us, in the years when our economic contacts
collapsed, many important aspects of our mutual activity were squandered, and
the position of Russian enterprises were taken by foreign competitors,'' Putin
said on the ORT television channel.
Russia should use its good relations with Cuba as a bridge to revive
contacts with other Latin American nations, he said, speaking to Russian and
Cuban media.
Russian trade with Cuba now totals about $1 billion per year, Putin said,
according to the Interfax news agency. This is well down from about $3.6 billion
in 1991.
The number of top officials scheduled to travel with Putin is relatively
small, and include Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov.
Nuclear Minister Yevgeny Adamov is not scheduled to be in the delegation,
Russian officials said. That indicates that no substantive agreements are
expected during this trip on the unfinished Juragua nuclear power plant, which
was being built with Soviet technical help and financing power before
construction was abandoned after the breakup of the former Soviet Union.
Putin, however, was expected to promote Russia's participation in completing
construction of Soviet-era projects including the Las Camariocas nickel plant
and the Cienfuegos oil refinery, according to Russian media.
Foreign policy aide Sergei Prikhodko said six documents were prepared for
the trip, including agreements on cooperation in legal affairs and the health
field, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Wednesday.
Putin meets Thursday with President Fidel Castro (news - web sites), as well
as Castro's point man on Cuba-U.S. affairs, National Assembly President Ricardo
Alarcon.
For the Soviet Union, Cuba - only 90 miles from the U.S. coast - was a
strategic outpost and ideological ally worth subsidizing. About 20 percent of
Cuba's gross national product is estimated to have come from Soviet subsidies.
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