Putin denies Russia will reopen Lourdes station

President Vladimir Putin of Russia has denied that Russia intends to reopen a radio-electronic listening post in Cuba, as reported by the Russian newspaper Kommersant.

The Kommersant account had been circulated widely in Russia and was much commented upon. Citing sources in the Russian government, it said the details had been worked out with the Cuban government and finalized during Putin’s one-day visit to Cuba on July 11. (For background in Progreso Weekly, click here and here.)

At a press conference Wednesday night (July 16) in Brasilia, where he had attended a meeting of the BRICS economic bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), Putin was asked by a Russian journalist if the report was true.

Q.: There are reports that we are returning to Lourdes. Is that true?

A.: It is not true. We did not discuss this issue.

Putin continued to talk about Russia’s good relations with Cuba, but the journalist was insistent.

Q.: Thank you, but about Lourdes — sorry.

A.: No, don’t apologize. We are able to meet the challenges in the field of national defense without this component. There is nothing unusual here. By agreement with our Cuban friends, we halted work in the center. We have no plans to resume that work.

The questioning then turned to other issues and the subject of Lourdes was not reprised.

The denial came on the same day that President Obama imposed a new round of sanctions against Russia in retaliation for Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.

According to The New York Times, “the new actions will, among other things, restrict access to American capital markets for Russian giants like the Rosneft oil company and Gazprombank that operate worldwide.”

The moves, The Times said, “went significantly further than the financial and travel limits imposed previously on several individuals and their businesses.”