Russia to close Cuban spy station

Russian President Vladimir Putin had admitted the Cuba spy station was "an irritant" to relations with the U.S.

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russia is to close its Cold War-era spy stations in Cuba and Vietnam as part of a worldwide pull-back.

President Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawals at a meeting with top military chiefs at the Kremlin.

General Anatoly Kvashnin, Chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, said after the meeting that Russia would dismantle its radar stations in Lourdes, Cuba, and Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam.

He said that the closure of the station in Cuba alone would allow Russia to save at least $200 million a year in rent and salaries -- enough to buy 20 intelligence satellites, officials said.

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CNN's Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty said a Kremlin source told CNN that the decision was dictated partly by financial considerations -- but "political considerations" -- notably the sensitivities of the U.S. -- were involved in the decision.

The source told her closing the bases was "a positive political gesture" at a time when both countries were fighting terrorism.

Dougherty said the move came on the same day that the new U.S. ambassador to Moscow Alexander Vershbow presented his credentials to President Putin.

At a photocall afterwards Putin strongly reiterated his support for the anti-terror coalition.

Only last December Putin visited the electronic spying facility in Lourdes. He told the station's staff that their mission was "useful and important" for decision making. But he also added that the base was "an irritant" in U.S. relations.

The U.S. Congress voted in May 2000 to restrict financial aid to Russia unless it closed the Lourdes facility.

CNN's Havana Bureau Chief Lucia Newman said that Cuba would be "angry and upset" by the decision as after the fall of the Soviet Union Russia had committed itself to maintaining the base.

She said the Castro regime would also lose a valuable source of intelligence on the U.S. as Russia shared the results of its monitoring with Cuba.

In June, Vietnam's Foreign Ministry confirmed that Russia had decided not to extend its lease for the naval base at Cam Ranh Bay, which has served as Moscow's strategic foothold in the region. The lease was set to expire in 2004.