Russia will write off 29 billion dollars of Soviet debts Cuba

Russia has reached an agreement with the Cuba on the settlement of debt, according to which 90 percent of the debt of the time of the USSR with a total of 32 billion dollars will be written off that it will open the way to investment and lively, RIA Novosti reports with reference to Russian and European diplomats.

According to the interlocutors of the agency, the final agreement was signed in Moscow in October. According to its conditions, Cuba will pay the remaining 3.2 billion dollars of debt for 10 years. The document must receive the approval of the State Duma. The debt restructuring plans became known in February following a visit to Cuba Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Negotiations on how the cube will pay the rest of the debt continues. Diplomats note that even annual payments in the amount of $ 320 million are a burden for the Cuban economy, since the country owes the members of the Parisian Club of creditors another $ 5-6 billion.

"The agreement recognizes part of the Soviet duty of Cuba, and this is important for Russia from a political point of view. In addition, it opens the way for new loans, which is of great importance for Cuba," said one of the Russian diplomats who wished to maintain anonymity.

In recent years, Cuba has been actively negotiating with other states regarding the restructuring of its debts. So, in 2010, the island managed to restructure the debt to China in the amount of almost six billion dollars, and last year to settle debt disputes with Japan, which wrote off 80 percent of the debt with a volume of 130 billion yen (about 1.4 billion dollars). The remaining part of the debt will have to be paid within 20 years.

In November of this year, it became known that 70 percent of the Cuban debt of 15 years ago in the amount of $ 500 million will write off Mexico. Bagams and other English neighbors either wrote off her debt, or received resource and transport concessions on the island of Freedom in return.