President Miguel Diaz-Canel held talks Monday this afternoon with Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, who is visiting Cuba as part of a tour of Latin American nations.

Welcoming him at the Palace of the Revolution, Diaz-Canel thanked Patrushev for including Cuba in his current tour, in which he is accompanied by representatives of important spheres of the Eurasian nation that contribute to the strengthening and expansion of bilateral relations.

The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba noted the progress in bilateral relations and the excellent state of diplomatic political dialogue between the two nations, which continue to expand in many sectors.

Cuban president highlighted the signing of important agreements related to the Russian-Cuban cooperation and the expansion of charter and regular flights between the two countries.

He also mentioned that Russian tourism is the one that showed the highest growth last year in the country, being the Eurasian nation the third largest tourist source to Cuba.

Another expression of the strengthening of ties is the numerous visits of high-ranking officials of both governments during 2023 and so far this year, the most recent being the one made last week to Havana by Serguei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister.

Cuban head of state, who was accompanied by Major General Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas, member of the Political Bureau and Minister of the Interior, and other senior officials of that ministry, took the opportunity to send greetings to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and to recognize his leadership in the international arena.

Patrushev, who on Monday also held an exchange with Army General Raul Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, thanked Diaz-Canel for the reception given to his delegation and his words about the Russian head of state, whose greetings he conveyed to him.

He coincided in highlighting the excellent ties between the two nations in different areas, not only in defense, security and the maintenance of public order and justice or special services, but also in the economy.

Raul Castro Meets Secretary of Russia’s Security Council

Cuban Revolution leader Army General Raul Castro met on Monday with Army General Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, who is on a working visit to Cuba.

The two leaders corroborated the excellent state of bilateral relations and high-level political dialog between their nations. Raul and Nikolai agreed to further expand bilateral relations, according to a TV report.

The meeting was attended by members of Division General Lazaro Alvarez, member of the Politburo of Cuba’s Communist Party and minister of the Interior, along other high-ranking officials.

The Russian general was accompanied by Victor Koronelli, Russian ambassador to Cuba and other members of his delegation.