Is it for the cuban cigars?

 

 

As President Medvedev and Raul Castro spent time in the former's country home, a sense of nostalgia wafted in. Castro remembered the time when he and his Russian comrades relished eating Salo – a Russian delicacy made of pig fat – with swigs of Russian vodka. “I don’t know if I’ll get to eat Salo and black bread this time around,” Castro had quipped in a pre-meet briefing. In the end, he got all that and a little more. Salo, black bread, vodka and well, a pinch of salt that rubbed the US the wrong way.

Russia and Cuba inked an accord last week that heralds the return to the close ties that once existed between erstwhile USSR and the island nation. However, expediency, financial and political interest clearly prevailed over ideology in this new-fangled arrangement. The two leaders have decided to carry the association between the previous Cold War partners to the echelon of “strategic partnership.” They also pledged to swell collaboration in mechanised farming, science and tourism, but assiduously evaded an open discussion on military cooperations.

Although the transcript of the communication was not revealed, sources close to Kremlin have confirmed to TSI that a loan to the tune of $20 mn to Cuba has been finalised. This will be used for the purchase of equipment for power, farming and real estate sectors. Other agreements comprise finance by a Russian bank to purchase Tupolev-204 SE coomercial airplanes, the also automobiles and trucks.

However, the thaw in relationship has ruffled quite some feathers in Washington DC. Rens Lee, an expert on Russo-Cuban relationship at Kennan Institute of Advanced Russian Studies told TSI, “The US has been fooling around igniting fires in their (Russia's) backyard, so perhaps Russia's efforts are sort of their manner of making us understand that they too can have fun in our sandbox.” Others, like Vladimir M Davydov of the Latin American Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, believe: “Not considering whether the strategy of Washington will cool down or remain notably fanatical, relationship between Cuba and Russia will develop.”

The Soviet Union was Cuba's chief benefactor during the Cold War, but the disintegration of USSR in 1991 tattered Cuba's financial system and strained associations between Havana and Moscow. This is the first trip to Russia by a Cuban leader since 1986, when Fidel Castro had travelled to Moscow.