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Russian Communists, hardliners protest Cuba spy station closure

MOSCOW, Oct 18 (AFP) -
Russian Communists and ultranationalists protested Thursday against President Vladimir Putin's decision to pull the plug on a key spy station in Cuba, accusing the Kremlin of abandoning Russia's claim to be a world power in order to save money.

The Communists accused Putin of dismantling not only the Lourdes radar station itself, but a symbolic cornerstone of the Soviet spy architecture that had given Moscow Cold War parity with Washington in the superpower stakes.

"Putin is pursuing a policy of shrinking Russia's influence until it barely reaches beyond the outkirts of Moscow," Communist deputy Viktor Ilyukhin told the State Duma (lower house of parliament).

"It's a policy initiated by (former Soviet president Mikhail) Gorbachev and (former Russian president Boris) Yeltsin, and it's nothing more than a capitulation to the West," he added.

Ilyukhin added that Putin's decision, announced Wednesday, to shut down the Cuban spy station, and the Cam Ranh naval base in Vietnam, "poses a grave risk to our military interests, and will significantly reduce Russia's role in the world."

Rightwing nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky joined the Communists in demanding an urgent review of this "national problem" by the Duma's security committee.

The Cuban government said late Wednesday it was in "total disagreement" with Moscow's decision to shut the base at Lourdes, 60 kilometres (40 miles) south of the capital Havana.

Cuba was a former Soviet satellite during the Cold War.

The United States predictably hailed the shutdown of two key Soviet-era bases as a sign of Russia's long-overdue recognition that the Cold War was over, and that both Moscow and Washington could now unite to fight terrorism.

"Not only is the Cold War over, the post-Cold War period is also over," said US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Shanghai, where US President George W. Bush is due to hold talks with Putin this weekend on the sidelines of the APEC summit.

The Russian foreign ministry sought to defuse Cuban anger Thursday by explaining the Lourdes decision in terms of Russia's unprecedented support for the US-led campaign against Saudi-born extremist Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist network.

"It is obvious that the fight will be long and require plenty of funds. So we will have to be economical, bearing in mind that the nature of challenges to our national security has seriously changed since the end of the Cold War," said ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko.

He added that Russia and Cuba had been discussing the future of the spy station "for a long time, so the decision cannot be unexpected."

Announcing the radar station shutdown on Wednesday, Putin reminded the United States that Russia still advocated "a full lifting of the economic blockade against Cuba."

Putin cited financial reasons Wednesday for the decision to dismantle "this year" the spy station in the United States' backyard.

"It costs 200 million dollars a year in rent to Cuba. For that amount, we can buy and launch 20 military satellites into space," the Russian chief of the general staff, General Anatoly Kvashnin said, explaining Putin's decision.

Around 1,500 Russian engineers, technicians and soldiers currently observe submarine activity from the base at Lourdes at a total cost of 300 million dollars (333 million euros) a year to Russia, according to military experts.

Washington says Moscow is using the facilities to spy on the US.

However, Russia reiterated Thursday that it hoped the decision to pull the plug on the radar station would not damage relations between Moscow and Havana.

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