Wednesday, 17 October, 2001.
BBC News Online
Russia is shutting down a radar base in Cuba, President Vladimir Putin has
announced.
The Lourdes station, where around 1,500 Russians are based, was too
expensive to maintain, he said.
The base, which houses radar and electronic equipment, has been a sore point
in relations with the United States, which says it has been used as a centre for
spying on America.
The US Congress voted last year to restrict financial aid to Russia unless
it closed the base.
Mr Putin stressed the decision did not mean its relations with Cuba - a key
Cold War ally - were being scaled down.
Closing Lourdes would save at least $200m a year in rent and salaries, he
said.
A naval base at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam is also being closed.
The BBC's Robert Parsons in Moscow says the closures have come as a surprise
- and only last year Mr Putin told the staff during a visit that their mission
played a very important role in government decision-making.
The decision, he says, may reflect the new mood of co-operation with the US
since the 11 September terror attacks, although the moves will also save
millions of dollars.
Officials quoted by the Associated Press news agency said the closure
decisions had been taken at a "stormy" meeting of senior military
leaders, chaired by Mr Putin.
"The president called on us to seek ways that could save resources,
including those within (the military)," said General Anatoly Kvashnin,
chief of the Russian armed forces' General Staff.
The Lourdes base, outside Havana, is land leased from Cuba in exchange for
crude oil and other supplies. | 
