Russia to reopen spy base in Cuba

[Robert]

Russia has quietly reached an agreement with Cuba to reopen a Soviet-era spy base on America's doorstep, amid souring relations between Moscow and Washington.

The deal to reopen the signals intelligence facility in Lourdes, south of Havana, was agreed in principle during president Vladimir Putin's visit to the island as part of a Latin American tour last week, according to the newspaper Kommersant.

Opened in 1967, the Lourdes facility was the Soviet Union's largest foreign base, a mere 155 miles from the US coast. It employed up to 3,000 military and intelligence personnel to intercept a wide array of American telephone and radio communications, but Putin announced its closure in 2001 because it was too expensive – Russia had been paying $200m (£117m) a year in rent – and in response to US demands.

After Putin visited Cuba on Friday, the Kremlin press service said the president had forgiven 90% of Cuba's unpaid Soviet-era debts, which totalled $32bn (£18.6bn) – a concession that now appears to be tied to the agreement to reopen the base.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/16/russia-reopening-spy-base-cuba-us-relations-sour

 

[JoBBo]

You should have also quoted the part saying that this announcement was made days after Russia had forgiven $32 billion of debt. This seems to be an important detail

Of course, if the US and Cuba were trade partners, it may have been possible to prevent all of this. If you choose to not have any relationship with another country, it is impossible to influence their leadership.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Tit for tat. You set up on our doorstep, we set up on your. Maybe Putin will also put a "defensive" missile system in there too, like the ones the US has in Eastern Europe.