Putin denies Cuba spy base to be reopened
Putin denies Cuba spy base to be reopened
By Victoria Macchi
July 18th, 2014 (VOA) Russian President Vladimir Putin is denying media reports that he will reopen a Soviet-era base in Cuba used to spy on the United States.
Putin said Thursday there are no plans to resume operations at the Lourdes signals intelligence facility near Havana, after Russian media first reported a day earlier that the two countries provisionally agreed to the deal last week.
“Russia is capable of fulfilling the defense capacity tasks without this component [Lourdes],” Putin told state-owned ITAR-TASS news agency toward the end of a six-day tour of Latin America.
A U.S. State Department spokeswoman declined Wednesday to comment on the news report because a formal agreement had not been officially announced.
Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, a Cuban-American and vocal opponent of Cuban leadership, told VOA that reopening the intelligence base would show “the Castro regime has only malevolent intentions toward the United States.”
More:
http://insidecostarica.com/2014/07/18/putin-denies-cuba-spy-base-reopened/
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Not Mario Diaz-Balart. [/center]
