By Scott Wilson. Washington Post Foreign Service.
The Washington Post.
Friday, December 15, 2000; Page A30
HAVANA, Dec. 14 Russian President Vladimir Putin began an
official visit to Cuba today, a high-profile sign of Russia's desire to revive
an alliance with a country that the Soviet Union supported for decades but
effectively abandoned after the Cold War.
The visit is the first by a Kremlin leader since the collapse of the Soviet
Union, which plunged Cuba into a decade-long economic crisis it is still trying
to escape. For the first time in years, Cubans witnessed caravans of
Russian-made limousines, brought out just for the occasion, speeding through the
capital's streets. Billboards written in Russian celebrated Putin's arrival.
Putin wasted no time in giving his hosts hope for at least a partial
restoration of close ties, agreeing to new trade deals and joining Cuban
President Fidel Castro in criticizing U.S. plans for a national missile defense
system.
Both leaders hope to benefit politically from the reunion of old allies,
once aligned against the United States and still deeply anxious about its role
as the lone superpower. In a brief news conference today, Putin and Castro
pointedly outlined their concern about the emerging "unipolar world."
As part of a joint declaration, Putin pledged to "increase cooperation with
Latin American and Caribbean countries, a region rapidly becoming an independent
center in the formation of a multipolar world."
"Putin does want to stake out a position for Russia as a world power
that doesn't always do what the United States wants," a Western diplomat
here said. "Cuba is a good place to start. Putin and Fidel reinforce each
other."
In pre-visit interviews with Cuba's state-run media, Putin said his visit to
"Russia's old and traditional ally" should be understood as a return
to a region that was a primary Cold War venue for confrontation with the United
States. He said Russia has been preoccupied with domestic issues, but that he
viewed returning to Latin America as a strategically important step for Russia.
"Now it is clear that the moment has arrived to reestablish our
position in this region of the world," Putin said in an interview with the
Communist Party newspaper Granma. "This corresponds with the economic and
national interests of Russia, and it will permit us to strengthen our position
around the globe."
Castro is also eager for a fresh start with a country that 10 years ago
accounted for 80 percent of its foreign trade--or about $7 billion. That figure
sunk to $250 million five years later, but this year is expected to exceed $1
billion.
Today Cuban and Russian officials signed agreements to continue their
long-standing trading of Russian oil for Cuban sugar and expand it to other
products, establish a historic archive of Cuban-Russian relations and cooperate
on public health issues. No agreement was announced regarding Russian aid to
help repair Cuba's Soviet-era military equipment, although talks described by
Russian defense officials as "technical" are proceeding.
Castro, facing chronic power shortages and an international credit crunch,
had hoped Putin would commit more than $1 billion to restart construction of a
nuclear power plant and oil refinery in southern Cienfuegos and a nickel mine in
northeastern Holguin province. The United States has repeatedly raised concerns
about the nuclear power plant, begun in the 1980s, because of what it calls
faulty design standards.
Putin suggested decisions on those issues might have to wait until the two
countries can resolve Cuba's roughly $20 billion debt to Russia.
"Russia wants to produce some answers to get these projects going again
and raise the level of the relationship between Russia and Cuba," Putin
said. "I don't have any doubt about [the success] of this."
Putin's visit comes during what human rights activists here describe as one
of the harshest government crackdowns on dissent in decades. More than 200
people have been jailed since Dec. 6 during a period of high-profile visits by
politicians and trade groups from the United States, China and Russia. Though
most were jailed briefly, two of those arrested were tried this week in secret
hearings and sentenced to one-year prison terms, according to the Cuban
Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.
"Putin has said he hopes to reform Russia's market economy and
strengthen democracy--things Cuba has no intention of doing," said Elizardo
Sanchez, president of the independent commission that is Cuba's most prominent
dissident group. "Cuba is trapped in the past. This is the big difference
between our countries."
Putin's three-day stay will take him to Cuba's pharmaceutical factories and
tourist resorts, the country's most promising foreign currency earners. Though
it was not listed on his official agenda, Putin also made a visit this afternoon
to the Russian listening post at Lourdes, east of Havana, a Soviet-era
installation he plans to modernize.
Castro and Putin, who have met only once before, in New York, plan to spend
the weekend together at a beach resort.
The last Kremlin leader to visit was Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in
1989, who, despite a bear hug from Castro on arrival, told Cuba it could no
longer count on favorable trading terms.
After the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, the relationship worsened under
Russian President Boris Yeltsin, whom Castro viewed as unreliable and a pawn of
the United States. But in Putin, a former KGB official whose crackdown on
separatists in Chechnya paved the way for his presidency, Castro sees a
potential ally.
Castro has used U.S. plans to construct a missile defense system to persuade
Putin to help Cuba repair its military equipment and strengthen its economy as a
countermeasure. President-elect Bush has been a strong supporter of the
anti-missile system, which Putin and others have said violates U.S.-Russia
nuclear arms-control agreements.
"The amount of arms [the United States] exports, the breaking of
nuclear agreements--this worries us enormously," said Castro, sitting at
Putin's side.
© 2000 The Washington Post Company |