By Patrick E. Tyler.
The New York Times. December
15, 2000
HAVANA, Dec. 14 — Russia and Cuba, two battered allies who fell out a
decade ago when the Soviet Union fell apart, officially got back together today
when President Vladimir V. Putin and President Fidel Castro pledged to reinvent
the relationship based on a modest agenda of trade and commerce and an equally
modest smattering of ideological alignment.
The Russian leader wore a business suit — he is here mostly to talk
business about the billions of dollars in Soviet-era investments in Cuba that
have come to naught, and for which debts are owed.
And the Cuban leader, looking fit and animated at 74, wore the trademark
olive fatigues of his revolution — reflecting his own preoccupation with
the evils of globalization, the poverty of many nations in a world of great
wealth and the "repression" that Cuba continues to suffer under four
decades of an American economic blockade.
Mr. Castro and Mr. Putin found some common language in complaining about the
advent of a world dominated by the United States. Mr. Castro claimed seniority
in the struggle by asking, "Who knows better than the country situated only
90 miles from the biggest superpower of the world?"
Mr. Putin, without mentioning the United States, agreed that such "unipolarity"
allows one country to "monopolize international relationships and to
dominate them." He said the last time this occurred, "we all know how
it ended," apparently a reference to Nazi Germany and World War II.
Both leaders condemned the continuing American economic embargo of Cuba.
But Mr. Putin signaled in other ways that the world has changed and that
Russia is not looking to return to the era of confrontation with the United
States. As he arrived in Cuba late Wednesday, the Kremlin acted on his decree
and released Edmond Pope, the American businessman convicted of espionage by a
Moscow court a week ago and sentenced to 20 years in jail.
And in a telegram to President- elect George W. Bush, Mr. Putin sent good
wishes for "success in this important and responsible post," adding, "I
am counting on an intensive and constructive dialogue with you and your
administration" with a goal of "further deepening of the productive
and mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and the United States"
and a "strengthening of international security and strategic stability."
Mr. Castro was less effusive. A government statement today said, "It
seems that the empire finally has a new leader" and "from the new
boss, we expect little."
Mr. Castro, seated next to Mr. Putin at a news conference, challenged
Washington's "preoccupation" with increasing its military spending
after the cold war and criticized Mr. Bush's support for erecting an antimissile
shield over the United States.
In the Palace of the Revolution, the two leaders signed minor accords to
cooperate in medical research, reopen a $50 million line of credit for Cuba and
lay the groundwork for future trade, but they have yet to announce agreement on
how Cuba might repay its estimated $20 billion in debts accumulated over three
decades during which Moscow subsidized Cuban agriculture, industry and a
significant military buildup.
Mr. Putin pointed out that even though the Russian and Cuban economies have
contracted by a third or more in the past decade, the two countries still carry
on nearly $1 billion in trade a year, mostly in barter by which Cuba receives
Russian oil and sends much of its annual sugar output to Russia.
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company | 