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Russia to Shut Down Base in Cuba
Russia will close two bases that came to be symbolic of the Cold War -- a radar station in Cuba and a naval support base in Vietnam, a top army official said Wednesday.
Officials described Wednesday's meeting of military brass at the Defense Ministry, chaired by Putin, as "stormy." After the meeting, they said Russia will spend nearly $1 billion more this year to purchase new weapons.
"The president called on us to seek ways that could save resources, including those within [the military]," said General Anatoly Kvashnin, chief of the armed forces' General Staff.
Kvashnin said Russia will dismantle its radar station in Lourdes, Cuba, and a navy technical support base in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. The pullout from Vietnam will start Jan. 1, military officials said, but no definite date was announced for the Cuba station.
The spying facility on Cuba was built in 1964, shortly after the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, to "decide defense issues during that period of the Cold War," Kvashnin said. "Now, the military-political situation has changed and there has been a qualitative leap in military equipment."
"The station's potential is compensated by the potential of other means and forces on the territory of Russia, including space-based ones," Kvashnin said.
He said the closure of the Cuba station would allow Russia to save at least $200 million a year in rent and an undisclosed amount in personnel salaries and maintenance. "With that money we can buy and launch 20 communication, intelligence and information satellites, and purchase up to 100 sophisticated radars," Kvashnin said.
Putin said Wednesday that the decision to dismantle bases in the former Soviet Union's traditional satellite countries did not mean that Moscow was turning its back. "We advocate the full lifting of the economic blockade against Cuba. We have large economic cooperation plans with Vietnam," Putin told the gathering.
Putin called for more money to be provided to the military to pay its personnel and purchase modern weapons. He also noted some troubles with the military reform efforts, saying in particular that he wanted to see more "quality" than quantity and lashing out at the military for having its pilots fly only 10 percent of the necessary training time.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who also took part in the meeting, said the government would spend an additional 27 billion rubles ($918 million) this year on new weapons purchases, "and this amount will be growing every year." He also voiced hope that the legislature on Friday would give its final approval to releasing an additional 4 billion rubles to beef up the salaries of military personnel, a step initiated by Putin.
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