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AP. Fri Aug 30. Yahoo!
MOSCOW - The Russian military has completed the withdrawal of equipment from
Russia's electronic intelligence center in Lourdes, Cuba, a news agency reported
Friday.
It has taken two weeks and about 10 flights of heavy-lifting An-124 Ruslan
military transport planes to bring the bulky equipment back to Russia, the
Interfax-Military News Agency said, quoting an unidentified Defense Ministry
official. Defense Ministry and air force officials refused to comment on the
report.
President Vladimir Putin ordered the Lourdes base closed last October along
with a naval base in Vietnam in what the Kremlin described as a cost-cutting
measure. The decision to abandon the outposts, both symbols of the Soviet
Union's Cold War global era reach, was also seen as part of Putin's efforts to
build warmer relations with the West.
The move has irked the leadership of communist Cuba, which criticized Moscow
for failing to consult with it before ordering the withdrawal and accused it of
caving in to the United States. Putin's decision was also criticized by some
Russian lawmakers, who said the Kremlin was throwing away important strategic
assets.
The electronic listening station at Lourdes was built two years after the
1962 Cuban missile crisis about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Havana. | 
