Cuban MPs to visit Russia in summer
HAVANA, February 9 (RIA Novosti) - Cuban lawmakers are planning to visit Russia in summer to meet with their Russian counterparts, a senior Cuban official told RIA Novosti on Monday.
Gen. Arnaldo Tamayo, who heads the foreign affairs section in Cuba`s Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces and chairs the Russia-Cuba Friendship Parliamentary Group, said the visit was arranged during a trip by Russian lawmakers to Cuba in January.
The date for the forthcoming visit is yet to be agreed.
The Cuban official praised the results of the January visit by Russian lawmakers led by Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the Federation Council`s defense and security committee.
"We had a fruitful exchange of views, and we told our Russian colleagues about our defensive doctrine and discussed various aspects of our military cooperation," Tamayo said.
He added that the sides have agreed that there is a need to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in the military sector.
Relations between Russia and Cuba stalled after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Russia faced financial difficulties and halted huge Soviet-era subsidies and trade.
In recent years, however, Russia has moved to revive ties with Cuba, as well as other Latin American states. President Dmitry Medvedev visited Havana in November, and a Russian anti-submarine destroyer and two logistical warships docked in Cuba in December.
Earlier this month, Medvedev and Cuban leader Raul Castro, who arrived for weeklong official visit to Russia, enjoyed a nostalgia-tinted informal meeting at the presidential Soviet-era country residence at Zavidovo.
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