Cuban leader follows Varela tryst with Moscow love-in

Hours after a hail and farewell meeting with Panama President Juan Carlos Varela  from whom he got promises of economic and political support, early in the week, Cuban leader, Miguel Díaz-Canel was winging his way to Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin where  he got pledges  of assistance  for the process of modernization and reform of the island’s economy. At the end of the meeting in the Kremlin Putin  said

“Russia offers Cuba assistance in the construction of the transport infrastructure, and today we talked about the renewal of the Cuban railway network,” Putin said

In an appearance that also condemned the US blockade of the Caribbean country. Putin noted that the largest Russian oil company, Rosneft, has already begun prospecting work on the island’s continental shelf, whose reserves are estimated at around 20,000 million barrels.

Putin  highlighted the importance of Russian hydrocarbon supplies to guarantee the “energy independence” of Cuba, which has seen a marked reduction in the arrival of Venezuelan oil in recent months.

He also announced that Russia will help restore the dome of the Capitol of Havana, seat of the National Assembly, and that a station of the global Glonass positioning and navigation system, similar to the US GPS and the European Galileo, will be installed in Cuba.

“Russia offers Cuba assistance in the construction of the transport infrastructure,

and today we talked about the renewal of the Cuban railway network,” Putin said

in an appearance that also condemned the US blockade of the Caribbean

country.

Putin noted that the largest Russian oil company, Rosneft, has already begun

prospecting work on the island’s continental shelf, whose reserves are estimated

by the Cuban side at around 20,000 million barrels.

And he highlighted the importance of Russian hydrocarbon supplies to guarantee

the “energy independence” of Cuba, which has seen a marked reduction in the

arrival of Venezuelan oil in recent months.

He also announced that Russia will help restore the dome of the Capitol of

Havana, seat of the National Assembly, and that a station of the global Glonass

positioning and navigation system, similar to the US GPS and the European

Galileo, will be installed in Cuba.

He acknowledged that, although the exchanges of goods grew by 17% last year,

they remain “modest”, so both leaders have entrusted their governments to

approve trade agreements and investment projects.

Both leaders signed a joint statement condemning the “unilateral sanctions”, the “interference” in the internal affairs of countries and information wars to overthrow regimes, and urged the US to rethink its intention to abandon the treaty for elimination of short and medium range nuclear missiles (INF).