Cuban President Satisfied As Moscow Revives Ties

Castro said `all the negotiations have taken place in a positive atmosphere and all (the obstacles) have been overcome.`

Cuban President Raul Castro expressed satisfaction on Monday with the results of his visit to Moscow, the first by a Cuban leader since the Cold War, after a newspaper reported he had won aid pledges of $354 million.

"I think we are leaving very satisfied," Castro, 77, said at the start of talks with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, part of an eight-day trip to Moscow to help revive ties that waned after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Business daily Vedomosti quoted Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov on Monday as saying Russia had agreed to provide Havana with $270 million in soft loans, mostly to buy and lease Russian agricultural and construction machinery

Another $37 million worth of Russian grain will be given to Havana as aid, Vedomosti quoted Shatalov as saying. On top of that, state bank VEB told the newspaper it would provide $47 million to sell a Russian-built cargo plane to Cuba.

Russian Finance Ministry officials did not immediately comment on the report.

During the Cold War, Moscow provided large amounts of aid to prop up Cuba's economy. It also kept a military presence on the island, much to the chagrin of Cuba's close neighbour, the United States.

Moscow's Cuban alliance quickly wilted in the economic chaos which gripped Russia after the end of communist rule. Putin ordered the closure in 2002 of Russia's last military base in Cuba, a radar station, as a cost-cutting move.

But both sides have stepped up links over the past year against a backdrop of worsening Russian relations with the United States and a diplomatic push by Moscow in Latin America.

Russian oil companies want to drill in the sea around Cuba and its military has talked about air defence cooperation with the Cubans.

Soon after a visit by President Dmitry Medvedev to Cuba in November, a Russian warship arrived in Havana Bay for the first time since the Cold War.

In comments at the opening of Monday's meeting, neither leader gave details of the agreements reached, but both voiced satisfaction at growing cooperation.

"I very much hope the agreements reached during this visit will be implemented," Putin said at the start of the meeting, which lasted about 90 minutes.

"Not just the agreements on loans, but in the real sector," he said, citing cooperation in oil, communications, machine-building and GLONASS satellite navigation -- Moscow's answer to the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS).

Castro said "all the negotiations have taken place in a positive atmosphere and all (the obstacles) have been overcome."

Castro also praised the role of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin in growing ties between the countries.

Though nominally responsible for the Russia's energy industry, Sechin is regarded as one of Putin's top lieutenants and the head of the hawkish "siloviki" government clan, which has close ties to the military and intelligence services.

Neither side has disclosed any information about possible new military links between Moscow and Havana.