No Cuban base for Russia?

TWITTER

Retweeted by Yasha Levine
 

simon saradzhyan ‏@saradzhyan 2h

Putin denies Lourdes SIGINT'll be reopend.So much for Kommersant's"several sources"in Rusgov,unless 11thhour reversal http://www.gazeta.ru/social/news/2014/07/17/n_6316069.shtml …

 RUSSIAN GAZETTA (as per above reference) -- SAYS ---WHAT???

Путин опроверг информацию о возобновлении работы радиоэлектронного центра в Лурдесе
17.07.2014, 03:24 | «Газета.Ru»

Президент России Владимир Путин опроверг информацию о планах Москвы по возобновлению работы радиоэлектронного центра в Лурдесе, сообщает Russia Today.

«Неправда, мы не обсуждали этого вопроса», — ответил Путин на вопрос о том, будет ли возобновлена работа радиолокационного центра.

[Source - Gazetta Ru - here.]

TRANSLATION

Putin denied the reopening of the Lourdes electronic
17.07.2014, 03:24 | «BBC»

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied the information about Moscow's plans to resume the work of the Lourdes electronic, reports Russia Today.

"It is not true, we did not discuss this issue," - Putin replied to a question about whether it would be reactivated radar center.

[Google]
-----------------------------------------
COMMENT

LOL

Looks like there's no Cuban re-opening after all.

But Western papers are running the story.

Personal Google favourite is:

Putin gives Obama 'middle finger,' strikes deal to reactivate spy base ...
Washington Times-by Douglas Ernst-2 hours ago
New sanctions imposed upon Russia aren't deterring Vladimir Putin from reactivating an old Soviet-era spy base in Cuba that has been closed since January 27 ...

-----------------------------------------

UPDATE 

BRASILIA, July 17. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that Russia had plans to deploy its radar in Lourdes, Cuba.

Putin noted that Russia had no plans to resume the Lourdes signals intelligence facility operation. “Russia is capable of fulfilling the defense capacity tasks without this component (Lourdes),” he said.

Source:  ITAR-TASS - here. 

Lesson:  don't pay attention to a single source.

Russia to reportedly re-open Cuban base

Following Vladimir Putin's recent visit to Cuba, it has been reported that Russia has written off Cuban debt to Russia.

Russia is rumoured to have also made arrangements with Cuba to re-open their SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) facility in Lourdes, Cuba (250km from mainland US).

Following the 1998 economic bust, Russia wound down her large scale operations at the Cuban facility.

However, Russia ultimately closed down the facility in 2001 due to US pressure.

The US held the purse strings and refused to reschedule or the forgive Russian debt, unless the Cuban facility was shut down.

Following the passing of the US Russian-American Trust and Cooperation Act (introduced in 2000 and rapidly passed by US Senate), Russia -- indebted to the US interests -- had no choice but to close down her Cuban base.

Particulars of the Act are as follows:

Full Title

To prohibit the rescheduling or forgiveness of any outstanding bilateral debt owed to the United States by the Government of the Russian Federation until the President certifies to the Congress that the Government of the Russian Federation has ceased all its operations at, removed all personnel from, and permanently closed the intelligence facility at Lourdes, Cuba.

Legislation particulars:  GovTrackUS site - here. 

No further details are available as to the reinstatement of  Russia's Cuban base.

-------------------------------
EDIT
Since denied by Putin - further blog post - here.