http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/febrero/mier4/rcp.html
Havana. February 4, 2009
Raúl has warm meeting with leaders of the Russian Communist Party
Irma Caceres and Jorge Martín Blandino (Special correspondents)
MOSCOW, February 3.-President Raúl Castro was decorated with the 90th
Anniversary of the Red Army Medal, instituted by the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation, by Gennady Zyuganov, its president
and parliamentary leader of the Duma.
On detailing the reasons for this award, Zyuganov recalled that Raúl has
dedicated his life to the revolutionary struggle and to the construction of his
country's Armed Forces.
Raúl expressed his thanks for the gesture and affirmed that he could not
come to Moscow without having a meeting with friends of Cuba who have firmly
supported the Revolution even at its most difficult moments, and to ratify the
island's comradely friendship.
Raúl also received the prize awarded to Fidel by the Sovetskaya Rossiya
newspaper from its editor Valentin Chikin, a Duma deputy, on account of the
militant and revolutionary journalistic work of the leader of the Revolution,
invariably accompanied by an innovative message.
Chikin added that the newspaper has published all of Fidel's
"Reflections" and other information related to the Revolution. He also
presented the Cuban leader with a selection of copies confirming that.
Raúl thanked him for this recognition on behalf of the Fidel, "who has
always been a great journalist, capable of transmitting profound ideas in a
clear and precise manner."
Raúl, as second secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, went on to
inform the Russian communist leader of the principal tasks being developed by
Cuba in the economic, political and social spheres. They likewise discussed a
number of current international issues.
Also present at the fraternal encounter were Ivan Melnikov, vice
president of the Russian Duma and of the Communist Party of the Russian
Federation; Alexei Russkij, vice president of the Parliamentary Committee on
Science and Technology; Leonid Kalashnikov, editor of the Rabochaya Gazeta; and
Alexander Yushchenko, an official of the Russian Communist Party.
Present on the Cuban side were Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés
Menéndez, member of the Political Bureau; Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, vice president
of the Council of Ministers; Rodrigo Malmiera Díaz, minister of foreign
investment and economic cooperation; and Juan Valdés Figueroa, the Cuban
ambassador in Russia.
