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Russian State Duma speaker meets with Cuban president

Vyacheslav Volodin delivered Miguel Díaz-Canel a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin

HAVANA, July 21. /TASS/. Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, to deliver him a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin and discuss bilateral relations.

"Relations between Cuba and Russia develop in a dynamic manner and <…> you and Vladimir Putin are doing a lot in that regard. We, on our part, will do our best to make maximum use of the parliamentary dimension of our relationship, to make practical decisions and to receive as much yield as possible from our cooperation," Volodin said.

In turn, the leader of Cuba said that Volodin’s visit "illustrates the outstanding state of political and economic ties" between the countries.

Díaz-Canel thanked Russian lawmakers for supporting his country and for their efforts to end the economic, commercial and financial blockade, imposed by the United States on Cuba.

Volodin and a delegation of prominent Russian lawmakers arrived in Cuba on Saturday. According to the State Duma’s press service, the speaker is scheduled to meet with President of the Cuban National Assembly of People's Power (parliament) Esteban Lazo.

The Russian delegation includes First Deputy Speaker Ivan Melnikov, deputy speakers Alexander Babakov, Vladislav Davankov and Boris Chernyshov, and head of the Liberal Democratic Party faction, chief of the Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky. Other Duma committee chairmen are also present: Pavel Zavalny on energy, Andrey Kartapolov on defense, Vasily Piskarev on security and anti-corruption, and Alexander Khinshtein on information policy, information technologies and communications.

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Foreign policy Vladimir Putin Cuba Vyacheslav Volodin

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