Rumors of renewed ties between Russia and Cuba resurfaced today after news reports cited remarks allegedly made by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. “We need to reestablish positions on Cuba and in other countries,” news agency Interfax quoted Putin as saying during a meeting of government ministers. Furthermore, a former senior official of Russia’s Defense Ministry's department told the local press that his country could possibly reestablish a military presence in Cuba:
"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," said Leonid Ivashov, the former head of the Russian Defense Ministry's department for international cooperation, and currently president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems.
"In response, we may expand our military presence abroad, including in Cuba Ivashov said, commenting on the recent visit of Russian Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin to Cuba on July 30-31…
"Cuba has convenient harbors which may host Russian reconnaissance and combat ships, and a network of forward landing airfields. With the Cuban leadership's consent and our own political will we may also consider resuming the work of an electronic listening post in Lourdes," the general said.
So far neither the Russian or Cuban governments have replied to Putin’s supposed statement though that didn’t stop a U.S. State Department spokesman from saying that “we don't see dealing with the Cuban government as particularly productive.”
Russian officials have expressed disdain at U.S. plans to create a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. Last October, Putin declared such a strategy as similar to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. However, he added that Russia and the U.S. were “not enemies anymore... we are partners.”
Image- UPI
Sources- AFP, RIA Novosti, Canadian Press, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, BBC News, earthtimes.org
3 comments:
Here is a novel idea. The US should give the defensive missle technology to Russia, and any others who want it. The sooner the offensive missles are obsoleted, the better. Then there would be no need for the Russian military to move to Cuba.
It seems to me that Bush and Putin are a little too stuck in the Cold War us-vs.-them mentality regarding their proposed missile defense systems.
I would love peace but sometimes people endanger our freedoms.
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