Cuban president Raul Castro to visit Russia (Telegraph)

"Cuban president Raul Castro will visit Russia next year, in a move that will deepen ties between the two countries.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev announced the trip during talks with Cuba's foreign minister.

Mr Medvedev said the visit would be 'a new contribution to the development of our relationship'.

'Your visit is new proof that relations between Russia and Cuba are developing very dynamically. We have overcome the lull seen in the last decade; our contacts are very intense, our relations are friendly,' Mr Medvedev told Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque.

He added that Cuba remained 'one of our key partners in Latin America'.

Mr Medvedev, who was himself been invited to visit Cuba, also sent his best wishes to former Cuban president Fidel Castro who stepped down in February.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier urged US President-elect Barack Obama to lift Washington's 46-year-old trade embargo against communist-ruled Cuba.

'We hope that the voice of the international community which has made itself heard again at the United Nations will be taken into consideration,' said Mr Lavrov.

'I heard that relations with Cuba were among the questions on which the administration of the President-elect Barack Obama were going to reflect and take decisions,' he added following talks with the Cuban foreign minister.

The United Nations general assembly last month again called on Washington to lift the embargo."