By EFE,
Havana : Russia’s armed forces general staff chief Nikolay Makarov is visiting Cuba, officials have said.
Makarov arrived in Cuba Monday. The officials didn’t provide details on his agenda or the length of the trip.
Cuba and Russia have been bolstering bilateral relations since last year, with the heads of state of both countries and other high-level officials taking turns visiting each other’s capitals.
A Russian navy ship made a three-day “working visit” about a month ago to the port of Havana, where it took on provisions.
In late July, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin visited Cuba.
The Russian official met the island’s president, Raul Castro, and signed several economic agreements.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s government extended a $20 million loan to Cuba last November, and a Russian naval flotilla made a port call in Havana in December.
Moscow and Havana have said in recent months that bilateral ties are the best they have been since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Soviet government was Cuba’s staunchest ally, buying 63 percent of the island’s sugar, 73 percent of its nickel and 95 percent of its citrus — all at inflated prices as part of Moscow’s massive subsidies to the Communist regime in Havana.