Putin says Russia should restore alliance with Cuba (Roundup)

Aug 4, 2008, 19:11 GMT

Moscow - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia should restore Soviet-era alliances with Cuba, news agencies reported.

'We need to rebuild position in Cuba and other countries,' Putin said during a meeting with his deputy Igor Sechin on his return from talks in Havana.

The head of Russia's federal security services Nikolai Patrushev was also part of the delegation seeking to extend trade and military cooperation.

Some of the country's top military brass, angry over the United States' plans to install a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, suggested last month that Russia could send nuclear-capable bombers to refuel and idle in Cuba in retaliation.

The Russian defence ministry then denied the report, but not before scathing reactions from the US.

US State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos on Monday said the United States continued to oppose improving relations with Cuba but that countries were free to conduct their own bilateral relations.

'We don't see dealing with the Cuban government as particularly productive,' Gallegos said, adding that the US could have more reaction to Russia's plan 'if it moves forward.'

Russia's current move to strengthen relations with the Caribbean island, just 150 kilometers off the US coast, is a throwback to the Cold War-era power-plays that culminated in the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 - the closest the two powers ever came to full-scale war.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia cut back on economic and military aid to the communist island, which suffered from the loss.

Then in 2006, Russia granted Cuba 355 million dollars to improve its transport and energy infrastructure, while the island signed up to buy Russian Tu-204 and Il-300 aircraft.

Back from three days of talks with President Raul Castro - former Cuban President Fidel Castro's brother - on increased cooperation, Sechin brought his greeting back to Putin: 'He says to tell you, 'hello'.'

A political analyst and former official at Russia's ministry of defence told news agency RIA-Novosti on Monday that Cuba and FSB chief Patrushev likely discussed renewing a military presence in Cuba as a response to US shield plans.

Moscow remains unconvinced of US insistence that the missile shield poses no threat and is designed to counter 'rogue states' such as Iran.

'It is not a secret that the West is creating a 'buffer zone' around Russia, involving in the process countries in Central Europe, the Caucasus, the Baltic states and Ukraine,' military analyst Leonid Ivashov was quoted by RIA-Novosti as saying.

'In response, we may expand our military presence abroad, including in Cuba,' he said.