As both Russia and the United States appear to fall back on an increasingly Cold-War-style footing, Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said Friday that Moscow is studying the question of reopening military bases in former Soviet-aligned states Cuba and Vietnam.
“The question is very appropriate. In fact, there is now a very quiet rethinking of decisions once made,” Pankov said in apparent reference to the Kremlin's 2002 decision to withdraw its military from positions in Cuba and Vietnam.
Until 2002, Russian ships were deployed to Cam Rahn, Vietnam and a Russian electronic surveillance outpost was maintained in Lourdes, Cuba.
As relations between
Russia and the West have collapsed over the past two and half years,
the Kremlin has been rolling back on post-Cold War agreements with
the United States. Most recently, the Kremlin announced it was ending
various cooperative efforts in the nuclear security realm.
