September 28, 1999
Web posted at: 11:04 p.m. EDT (0304 GMT)

In this story: Trade and debt on the agenda Cuban economy hangs on RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Havana Bureau Chief Lucia Newman

HAVANA (CNN) -- The bear hug isn't as tight as it used to be, and gone are the triple kisses on the cheek. Still the greeting between Cuba's President Fidel Castro and Russia's Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was reminiscent of the past -- of a time when Havana and Moscow were united in their communist ideology and their animosity toward the United States.

Cuban and Russian leaders held closed-door talks Tuesday in an effort to redefine their troubled post-Cold War relationship. Diplomats said Ivanov's visit was focusing primarily on bilateral issues, but with discussion also of the recent Kosovo conflict and the present crisis in Chechnya.

	MESSAGE BOARD
Russia's future

Trade and debt on the agenda

Pressing bilateral concerns include a trade deal to exchange Cuban sugar for Russian oil and Cuba's disputed outstanding debt, which Russia inherited from the former Soviet Union.

"It's evident that taking into account the wealth accumulated in the many years of relations between both nations, it's logical that the ties between Cuba and Russia continue to develop," said Ivanov.

The Russian foreign minister's visit came exactly one decade after relations between both countries plummeted with the visit to Cuba by Mikhail Gorbachev, who came here to tell Castro to change his economic and political system, ironically just as the Soviet Union was about to collapse.

After enjoying one of the firmest Cold War alliances, the special relationship between Havana and Moscow ended abruptly with the collapse of the Soviet bloc at the start of the 1990s.

Cuban economy hangs on

The end to favorable trade and Soviet aid that once propped up Cuba's ailing economy has helped plunge Cuba into an abyss -- an economic crisis dubbed by some Cuban authorities as a "Special Period in Time of Peace" -- from which it is still struggling to emerge.

Despite almost all predictions, Cuba's economy has survived. Some would argue it is even healthier than Russia's.

While the Cold War that once thrust both nations together is behind them, Russia and Cuba once again are finding common ground.

"Cuba and Russia support a multipolar world order," said Ivanov. "We support the charter of the United Nations and respect for international law."

But anyone expecting Havana to follow Moscow's path on the ideological front will have to keep waiting. Cuba's leadership never tires of pointing to the economic and political chaos in Russia as an argument against the sort of reform that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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