Cuba's Castro, Russia's Putin meet in Havana as new era unfolds

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuban President Fidel Castro and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were starting a day of talks Thursday in Havana as Moscow sought to rekindle political and economic ties with its former Cold War ally.

The pair, who met at Havana airport for Putin's arrival late Wednesday, were scheduled to spend most of the day together in official conversations and in a visit to a Russian- operated electronic intelligence center outside Cuba's capital.

Russian officials said Putin met with Castro for about 20 minutes after his arrival shortly before midnight at the Jose Marti international airport, and personally invited the Cuban communist leader to make a future visit to Moscow.

Putin is the first Russian leader to visit Cuba or anywhere else in Latin America in the post-Soviet era.

The last major visit to Cuba from Moscow was by then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989, who received an effusive bearhug from Castro rather than the businesslike handshake he shared with Putin on arrival Wednesday.

Underlining, however, the importance Cuba is giving to this visit, Castro's brother and armed forces' chief, Raul Castro, as well as other senior officials such as Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, were also at the airport to greet Putin.

The Soviet Union became Cuba's strategic partner shortly after Castro came to power in his 1959 revolution that toppled former dictator Fulgencio Batista.

But relations loosened dramatically after the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991, and Cuba, now one of the world's few bastions of communism, has since formed important commercial ties with other countries.

Putin made no comments to waiting media on arrival Wednesday, but said in an interview with Cuban television Monday that the cooling in post-Soviet relations with Cuba had been a mistake and that the ties should be strengthened.

His visit to Cuba may raise eyebrows in the United States, particularly following earlier rapprochement with others mistrusted by the West, like Libya, Iraq and North Korea.

Putin begins the official part of his visit Thursday morning with a formal welcome ceremony led by Castro at Havana's Revolution Palace. After conversations between both delegations, a package of bilateral documents will be signed.

The Kremlin press office declined to clarify which agreements the package would contain, but Russian officials said they would include a broad cooperation treaty, an accord on avoiding double taxation and a health care agreement.

Russia's Economic Development and Trade Ministry said on the eve of the visit that the two governments planned to sign an agreement on bilateral trade for 2000-2004. But the discussions are widely expected to center on the problem of Cuba's massive, Soviet-era debt to Moscow.

The precise amount of the debt is unknown, but Russian media said it was in the region of $20 billion. Russia has also given loans to Cuba in the middle of 1990s to maintain and upgrade some Soviet-built plants.

Cuba argues that Russia should write off part of the debt as compensation for "damages" caused by the Soviet collapse.

Russia believes part of the debt could be covered by its participation in some potentially lucrative projects, like a nickel ore processing plant at Las Camariocas, the Cienfuegos oil refinery and the Juragua nuclear plant. But the Cubans will want new investments.

Putin, a former KGB agent, will visit later Thursday a radar listening station at Lourdes, which Cuba leases to Russia in exchange for oil shipments and other supplies.

Also Thursday, Putin will pay tribute to the Soviet-era friendship, by laying a wreath to the monument of the "Soviet Internationalist Warrior" and hold a meeting with Cuba's National Assembly leader Ricardo Alarcon, a powerful official considered by some a likely member of a post-Castro leadership.

Putin's entourage includes Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and Health Minister Yuri Shevtchenko.

Before flying to Canada on Sunday, Putin will spend two days, probably with Castro, at the world-famous beach resort of Varadero, a two-hour drive east of Havana along the coast.

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