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Putin Completes Historic Conquest Of Cuba On Its Beach
by Dmitry Zaks
HAVANA (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin completes his historic conquest of Cuba on the Communist island's sunny beaches Friday after embracing Cold War ally Fidel Castro and berating the United States.
A relaxed and visibly confident Putin will travel with his wife Lyudmila to Cuba's coast resort Varadero before flying nonstop over the United States on Sunday to launch an official, two-day tour of Canada.
But first he will take questions from reporters curious to gauge the candor with which Putin brushed aside a decade of frozen Cuban relations Thursday to cast this isolated island as one of the last roadblocks to complete U.S. hegemony.
Washington is "attempting to place a monopoly over international affairs," Putin, 48, declared on Thursday, a stoic Castro, 74, sitting in green battle fatigue at his side.
"Russia intends to bridge the gap between the so-called golden billion and the rest of humanity - and we will be solving this question by taking our very good ties with Cuba into account," Putin said.
Only moments earlier, Castro warmly welcomed the Moscow delegation of top military and trade ministers, Putin becoming the first Russian leader to visit this isolated Communist island since the Soviet bloc's demise.
Under a dazzling blue sky and against a backdrop of lush palm trees, the two leaders strolled past colorfully outfitted Cuban troops on Revolution Square before heading inside the white marble Palace of the Revolution.
And while Putin did send a congratulatory letter to U.S. presidential election winner George W. Bush, the Kremlin barred journalists from asking the Russian leader about his new Washington counterpart.
Instead, Putin himself ominously warned the United States that its sway on the international arena would, inevitably, wane.
"Similar attempts at world domination were made numerous times throughout the course of history ... and it is well known how they all ended," Putin said.
The saber rattling inspired Castro, who lashed out at world trade bodies as "the kiss of death," arguing the United States was "forcing neo-liberal globalization" on Cuba.
"Even in the age of colonialism and slavery, the poor were not stolen from by the rich like this," Castro fumed.
The two sides signed five trade and diplomacy agreements while Putin and Castro pledged to support "sovereignty, self-governance, non-intervention, independence and territorial integrity" in their joint declaration.
"This is a very important document. On almost all issues, our positions converge," said Castro, thanking Russia for consistently arguing against the U.S.-imposed economic sanctions on his island.
Castro also accepted an invitation to pay his first visit to post-Soviet Russia, although a date for the trip has not yet been set.
And in a striking dig at the United States, Castro apparently changed his plans at the last minute to join Putin on his visit to Lourdes.
A closely-guarded town on the outskirts of Havana, Lourdes houses a cryptic Moscow-funded listening station that monitors submarines and which most analysts agree hones in directly on Washington.
While Moscow has not yet decided if - despite strong U.S. pressure - it will keep funding the listening post, Putin's rhetoric Thursday suggested that he was keen to press Moscow interests on the island in the coming years.
While annual Cuban-Russian trade stands at just under $1 billion, the Russian delegation was due to discuss a proposal that Moscow hopes will finally settle Havana's $11 billion Russian debt.
Executives at Russia's giant Norilsk Nickel metallurgy plant announced they intended to complete construction of a Cuban smelter in a joint venture with the state-run General Nickel Company.
Norilsk wants the Cuban profits from the venture to go directly to the Russian government to pay off the outstanding debts. It was not immediately clear whether any headway was made on that deal Thursday.
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