Russia will provide Cuba with a loan of over $ 50 million for the purchase of Russian military equipment, Kommersant reports, citing sources in the field of military-technical cooperation. According to them, the relevant agreement will be signed in the framework of the package of agreements at the 16th meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade, economic and scientific and technical cooperation, which will be held October 29-30 in Havana.

The Russian delegation at the meeting will be headed by Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov. In the Russian federal service of military-technical cooperation "Kommersant" confirmed holding a meeting in Havana, but did not give details. The Borisov staff said that it was planned to "approve the already agreed list of 60 investment projects". According to the Kommersant interlocutors in the industry, the administrative documents on the package of agreements in the military-technical sphere have already been signed.

For the amount of the loan, Cuba will be able to choose weapons under the technical cooperation program for 2016–2020, which, in particular, provides for military modernization, the newspaper writes. According to his sources, we are talking about the procurement of armored vehicles and, presumably, helicopters "from the presence of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation", as well as spare parts, tools and accessories for previously supplied equipment.

One of the components of cooperation can also be a project on small arms..

The last loan agreement of the Russian Federation and Cuba in the military-technical sphere was concluded in 2009 and extended twice. In 2015, Havana was interested in supplying Russian naval equipment and upgrading the infrastructure of its coastal zone.. In 2016, Moscow and Havana negotiated the creation in Cuba of additional capacities for repairing Soviet and Russian-made helicopters. A year later, the head of Rosoboronexport, Alexander Mikheyev, said that Cuba had applied for the modernization of its equipment, and did not rule out the execution of work on credit.