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Putin, Cuban president to focus on bilateral relations — Kremlin spokesman

"Russian-Cuban relations have a very good foundation at the present time and good prospects for the future, and this is what the talks will be about," Dmitry Peskov emphasized

MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel will mostly discuss relations between the two countries at their meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"The experience and lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis have already been carefully studied and will continue to be studied but it won’t be the focus of the talks," Peskov said, when asked if the issue would be brought up at the meeting.

He pointed out that "the two crises are different, although both then and now, it was about a clash between us and the US-led collective West." "However, the nuances are certainly different," Peskov added. He also believes that it is not right to compare Putin with Nikita Khrushchev, who led the Soviet Union at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. "Putin is Putin and Khrushchev was Khrushchev <...>. So I don’t think that there is any reason to compare Putin with anyone," the presidential spokesman noted.

"Russian-Cuban relations have a very good foundation at the present time and good prospects for the future, and this is what the talks will be about," Peskov emphasized. He added that Putin and Diaz-Canel might also touch upon some aspects of defense cooperation.

Peskov explained that the meeting between the Russian and Cuban presidents is scheduled to take place at the Kremlin, where the two will also share a working lunch. "It’s a very important meeting. Russia and Cuba maintain relations of strategic partnership that are multifaceted and mutually beneficial. The parties will certainly focus on trade and economic cooperation and other aspects of interaction between the two countries," Peskov concluded.