18:48 GMT08 August 2021

COVID-19 global data

Confirmed cases:

In this July 11, 2014 file photo, Cuba's Fidel Castro, center, visits with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, right, in Havana, Cuba.

Fidel’s Death Means 'Russia Lost a Great Friend' - Russia's Parliament Speaker

© AP Photo / Alex Castro

15:27 GMT 28.11.2016Get short URL

Subscribe

https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/104786/22/1047862214_0:82:2000:1207_1200x675_80_0_0_aa6abd6c285a6efa135e040e97807472.jpg

Sputnik International

https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png

Sputnik

https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png

https://sputniknews.com/politics/201611281047932594-fidel-death-russia/

Russian parliamentary speaker Valentina Matvienko expressed on Monday her condolences to the Cuban authorities and people after revolutionary leader Fidel Castro’s decease, stressing that "Russia lost a great friend."

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Fidel Castro, one of the world’s longest-serving leaders, died late Friday at the age of 90. His death was announced by his brother and the incumbent Cuban president, Raul Castro.

"Russia lost a great friend, he [Castro] personally did a lot for the development of relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union, Cuba and Russia. He remained committed to the principles of friendship, became part of our common history. We share your pain. For us it is a huge loss," Matvienko said during a meeting with Cuban ambassador to Russia Emilio Losada Garcia.

Fidel Castro, left, raises his brother's hand, Cuba's President Raul Castro, center, as they sing the anthem of international socialism during the 6th Communist Party Congress in Havana, Cuba (File)

© AP Photo / Javier Galeano

Cuba After Fidel: How Castro's Brother Will Develop Relations With the World

She added that Fidel Castro had always been respected in Russia due to his "charisma, amazing human qualities."

"It's a heroic person, an outstanding statesman and public figure, one of the most famous politicians in the world. He devoted all his life to his nation and its struggle for freedom and independence. Fidel Castro continued to work till his last day, his ideas and his legacy will serve for a long time," Matvienko said.

Garcia in his turn said that Castro was fond of Russia and advocated the development of the closest relations between Cuba and Russia.

Сastro was born in 1926 in the Cuban village of Biran. He became the country's prime minister in February 1959, and ruled Cuba as a single-party state until 2008, when his brother Raul Castro took over.

Related:: Old Friendships Die Hard: China, Cuba to Stick Together After Castro’s Death

: Fidel Castro Behind Cuba's 'Repressive' Political System – Berlin

: Ex-Yemeni President Saleh Asks UN for Permission to Visit Castro’s Funeral

Tags:

Cuba, Russia, Fidel Castro, Valentina Matvienko

Community standardsDiscussion

Сomment
Thank you! Your comment will be reviewed by the moderator for compliance with the Rules
Add more
Post limit reached. Please try again in a minute.
Your comment contains a link, so it can't be published on our site

Сomment

Community standards

The fact of registration and authorization of users on Sputnik websites via users’ account or accounts on social networks indicates acceptance of these rules.

Users are obliged abide by national and international laws. Users are obliged to speak respectfully to the other participants in the discussion, readers and individuals referenced in the posts.

The websites’ administration has the right to delete comments made in languages other than the language of the majority of the websites’ content.

In all language versions of the sputniknews.com websites any comments posted can be edited.

A user comment will be deleted if it:

does not correspond with the subject of the post;
promotes hatred and discrimination on racial, ethnic, sexual, religious or social basis or violates the rights of minorities;
violates the rights of minors, causing them harm in any form, including moral damage;
contains ideas of extremist nature or calls for other illegal activities;
contains insults, threats to other users, individuals or specific organizations, denigrates dignity or undermines business reputations;
contains insults or messages expressing disrespect to Sputnik;
violates privacy, distributes personal data of third parties without their consent or violates privacy of correspondence;
describes or references scenes of violence, cruelty to animals;
contains information about methods of suicide, incites to commit suicide;
pursues commercial objectives, contains improper advertising, unlawful political advertisement or links to other online resources containing such information;
promotes products or services of third parties without proper authorization;
contains offensive language or profanity and its derivatives, as well as hints of the use of lexical items falling within this definition;
contains spam, advertises spamming, mass mailing services and promotes get-rich-quick schemes;
promotes the use of narcotic / psychotropic substances, provides information on their production and use;
contains links to viruses and malicious software;
is part of an organized action involving large volumes of comments with identical or similar content ("flash mob");
“floods” the discussion thread with a large number of incoherent or irrelevant messages;
violates etiquette, exhibiting any form of aggressive, humiliating or abusive behavior ("trolling");
doesn’t follow standard rules of the English language, for example, is typed fully or mostly in capital letters or isn’t broken down into sentences.

The administration has the right to block a user’s access to the page or delete a user’s account without notice if the user is in violation of these rules or if behavior indicating said violation is detected.

Users can initiate the recovery of their account / unlock access by contacting the moderators at moderator@sputniknews.com

The letter must contain:

Subject - the restoration of account / unlock access
User ID
An explanation of the actions which were in violation of the rules above and resulted in the lock.

If the moderators deem it possible to restore the account / unlock access, it will be done.

In the case of repeated violations of the rules above resulting in a second block of a user’s account, access cannot be restored.

To contact the team of moderators, write to moderator@sputniknews.com