By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service

HAVANA, Dec. 14 –– Russian President Vladimir Putin began an official visit to Cuba today, a high-profile sign of Russia's desire to revive an alliance with a
country that the Soviet Union supported for decades but effectively abandoned after the Cold War.

The visit is the first by a Kremlin leader since the collapse of the Soviet Union, which plunged Cuba into a decade-long economic crisis it is still trying to escape. For
the first time in years, Cubans witnessed caravans of Russian-made limousines, brought out just for the occasion, speeding through the capital's streets. Billboards
written in Russian celebrated Putin's arrival.

Putin wasted no time in giving his hosts hope for at least a partial restoration of close ties, agreeing to new trade deals and joining Cuban President Fidel Castro in
criticizing U.S. plans for a national missile defense system.

Both leaders hope to benefit politically from the reunion of old allies, once aligned against the United States and still deeply anxious about its role as the lone
superpower. In a brief news conference today, Putin and Castro pointedly outlined their concern about the emerging "unipolar world." As part of a joint declaration,
Putin pledged to "increase cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean countries, a region rapidly becoming an independent center in the formation of a
multipolar world."

"Putin does want to stake out a position for Russia as a world power that doesn't always do what the United States wants," a Western diplomat here said. "Cuba is a
good place to start. Putin and Fidel reinforce each other."

In pre-visit interviews with Cuba's state-run media, Putin said his visit to "Russia's old and traditional ally" should be understood as a return to a region that was a
primary Cold War venue for confrontation with the United States. He said Russia has been preoccupied with domestic issues, but that he viewed returning to Latin
America as a strategically important step for Russia.

"Now it is clear that the moment has arrived to reestablish our position in this region of the world," Putin said in an interview with the Communist Party newspaper
Granma. "This corresponds with the economic and national interests of Russia, and it will permit us to strengthen our position around the globe."

Castro is also eager for a fresh start with a country that 10 years ago accounted for 80 percent of its foreign trade--or about $7 billion. That figure sunk to $250
million five years later, but this year is expected to exceed $1 billion.

Today Cuban and Russian officials signed agreements to continue their long-standing trading of Russian oil for Cuban sugar and expand it to other products, establish
a historic archive of Cuban-Russian relations and cooperate on public health issues. No agreement was announced regarding Russian aid to help repair Cuba's
Soviet-era military equipment, although talks described by Russian defense officials as "technical" are proceeding.

Castro, facing chronic power shortages and an international credit crunch, had hoped Putin would commit more than $1 billion to restart construction of a nuclear
power plant and oil refinery in southern Cienfuegos and a nickel mine in northeastern Holguin province. The United States has repeatedly raised concerns about the
nuclear power plant, begun in the 1980s, because of what it calls faulty design standards.

Putin suggested decisions on those issues might have to wait until the two countries can resolve Cuba's roughly $20 billion debt to Russia.

"Russia wants to produce some answers to get these projects going again and raise the level of the relationship between Russia and Cuba," Putin said. "I don't have
any doubt about [the success] of this."

Putin's visit comes during what human rights activists here describe as one of the harshest government crackdowns on dissent in decades. More than 200 people
have been jailed since Dec. 6 during a period of high-profile visits by politicians and trade groups from the United States, China and Russia. Though most were jailed
briefly, two of those arrested were tried this week in secret hearings and sentenced to one-year prison terms, according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights
and National Reconciliation.

"Putin has said he hopes to reform Russia's market economy and strengthen democracy--things Cuba has no intention of doing," said Elizardo Sanchez, president of
the independent commission that is Cuba's most prominent dissident group. "Cuba is trapped in the past. This is the big difference between our countries."

Putin's three-day stay will take him to Cuba's pharmaceutical factories and tourist resorts, the country's most promising foreign currency earners. Though it was not
listed on his official agenda, Putin also made a visit this afternoon to the Russian listening post at Lourdes, east of Havana, a Soviet-era installation he plans to
modernize.

Castro and Putin, who have met only once before, in New York, plan to spend the weekend together at a beach resort.

The last Kremlin leader to visit was Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989, who, despite a bear hug from Castro on arrival, told Cuba it could no longer count
on favorable trading terms.

After the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, the relationship worsened under Russian President Boris Yeltsin, whom Castro viewed as unreliable and a pawn of the
United States. But in Putin, a former KGB official whose crackdown on separatists in Chechnya paved the way for his presidency, Castro sees a potential ally.

Castro has used U.S. plans to construct a missile defense system to persuade Putin to help Cuba repair its military equipment and strengthen its economy as a
countermeasure. President-elect Bush has been a strong supporter of the anti-missile system, which Putin and others have said violates U.S.-Russia nuclear
arms-control agreements.

"The amount of arms [the United States] exports, the breaking of nuclear agreements--this worries us enormously," said Castro, sitting at Putin's side.