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Gorbachev about Castro: Fidel took Soviet perestroika very close to heart

Former President of the Soviet Union said Fidel Castro was an outstanding, extraordinary man

Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi

Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro

© AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro took close to heart failures of the Soviet perestroika, former President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev said in an interview with the Life. Zvuk radio station on Saturday.

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Fidel and Raul Castro meeting Soviet and Russian statesmen

"He was an outstanding personality, unique," he said. "I had a very positive opinion about him. Very positive. I met him at congresses, and then I was in Cuba, and there we discussed common interests, we talked."

"We became very good friends and remained such," Gorbachev continued. "He took very close to heart what happened about the perestroika. Well, I also took it even more to heart."

The Russian-Cuban relations will continue developing after Fidel’s death, he said. "I believe, the good relations will remain."

Leader of the Cuban revolution, the leader of the first socialist country in the Western hemisphere Fidel Castro, died on Saturday at the age of 90, President Raul Castro told the state television.

"Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro Ruz has passed away," he said, adding the body would be cremated as Fidel had wished.

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Foreign policy Latin America Mikhail Gorbachev

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