Russia could reopen Cuban spy base

Russia could reopen Cuban spy base

MOSCOW -- During last week's visit of President Vladimir Putin to Cuba, a preliminarily agreement was reached to reopen a Russian "intelligence base" in that country.

The facility was operational during the Cold War as the main location for spying on the United States, writes the Moscow-based daily Kommersant.

Citing "several sources from the circles of domestic politicians," Kommersant reported that an agreement "in principle" was reached to reopen the Lourdes station, which has been inactive since 2001, AFP said.

Russia closed the facility at the time on Putin's orders to save money - and in light of "closer relations between Moscow and Washington after the September 11 attacks."

Since then, however, "Moscow has again been showing interest in Latin America and its Cold War ally Cuba, while its relations with the West have worsened the crisis in Ukraine."

Lourdes was established in 1964, and is located just 250 km off the coast of the United States. At one point it employed up to 3,000 people. Radio signals, including those from submarines and ships, as well as satellite communications were intercepted from this base.

On the eve of Putin's visit to Cuba, Russia decided to write off 90 percent of Cuba's debt, which dated back to the Soviet era and reached about USD 32 billion.

During the last several years of its operations, Russians paid Cuba USD 200 million a year to use the Lourdes station.

Former director of Russia's foreign intelligence service Vyacheslav Trubnikov pointed out that the base will "strengthen Russia's international position."

"For the Soviet Union, Lourdes represented its eyes on the entire...