Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visits Havana

World Today

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visits HavanaCuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel (L) and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (R) review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Revolution Palace in Havana, on October 3, 2019. – Medvedev is in Cuba for an official visit. (Photo by YAMIL LAGE / AFP)

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov is in Caracas.

He’s there meeting with top Venezuelan officials, including President Nicholas Maduro.

Borisov is responsible for Russia’s military-industrial complex.

That visit comes as Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has wrapped-up a two-day official visit to Cuba.

CGTN’s Luis Chirino reports from Havana.

As part of his agenda in Cuba, the Russian prime minister laid a floral wreath at the monument of Cuba’s national hero Jose Marti. Dmitry Medvedev was officially welcomed by President Miguel Diaz-Canel at the Palace of the Revolution.

They presided over the signing of important bilateral agreements in sectors including energy, trade and finances.

“The signing of eight important accords reveals our countries’ will to reinforce the legal framework establishing our bilateral relations and add to some recent agreements reached by the two governments,” Miguel Diaz-Canel the Cuban President said.

The Russian premier held official talks with the Cuban president and also met with former President Raul Castro, head of the Cuban Communist Party, and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.

Medvedev’s visit comes at a time when Cuba is facing economic challenges brought on by the tightening of the decades-long U.S. trade embargo.

“Not everyone likes to see our even-handed dialogue. Over the past months, the United States has significantly strengthened its economic blockade of Cuba in an effort to create a toxic atmosphere against all kinds of cooperation with Cuba, to scare investors away and to impose a sort of oil blockade on the island,” said Dmitry Medvedev the Russian Prime Minister.

The University of Havana granted Medvedev an honorary degree in political science, shortly before he visited a joint Russian-Cuban oil drilling project on the northern Cuban coast.

Prime Minister Medvedev’s visit follows a series of high-level meetings between the two countries including a trip to Moscow by President Miguel Diaz-Canel in 2018 and a visit here by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last July to follow up on the implementation of bilateral accords in key areas.