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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends,

Allow me to welcome you to Moscow. It is with great pleasure that I recall my latest trip to Cuba and the warm welcome we received.

There is no need to describe the quality of Russian-Cuban relations, which have a long history. Apart from anything else, we are celebrating 55 years since diplomatic relations were restored.

President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba Raul Castro (retranslated): Tomorrow.

Vladimir Putin: That’s right. We are very happy to see you. Welcome.

Raul Castro: Thank you very much. My friend Putin, comrades,

I would like to begin by thanking you for the invitation to take part in such an important event as celebrations of the Great Victory of the people of the former USSR.

As I told the Prime Minister yesterday, I could not stay away from such an event. It is within the framework of these celebrations that Cuba is holding a number of events with the participation of the State Duma Speaker of the Russian Federation.

We recall your visit to Cuba last year, the important agreements we arrived at in the course of that visit. We were discussing cooperation issues yesterday with your Prime Minister [Dmitry Medvedev], Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and other comrades.

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