State Duma to address Fidel Castro on the occasion of 40th anniversary of Caribbean crisis

On Wednesday, deputies of the Russian State Duma are expected to consider a draft resolution with an address to Cuban leader Fidel Castro on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Caribbean crisis.

A document prepared by a group of deputies from the lower house reads that joint actions taken by the Soviet Union and Cuba during the Caribbean crisis turned out "a brilliant foreign-policy operation that accounted for a graver look on the part of the US and their allies on the alignment of forces in the world arena after the Second World War." "For the first time since the founding of the USSR, it was seen as one of the world's two Great Powers," goes on the document.

"Today, the world is in tension not just because of the United States' actions against Iraq but also because the States continually violate the generally recognized principles and norms of international law," the deputies wrote. "It is high time that Russia and Iraq's harsh policy of principle opened a new epoch in the development of humankind, an epoch without wars and catastrophes similar to that which followed the Caribbean crisis, and did so with Cuba's support." The deputies also expressed their gratitude to Fidel Castro for his "staunch position on the international scene" and wished "success and prosperity to the heroic people of Cuba."