Surprise Moscow Visit By Castro

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30338, 14 January 1964, Page 11

Surprise Moscow Visit By Castro

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) MOSCOW, January 13. The Cuban Prime Minister (Dr. Castro) arrived in Moscow by air today on an" unexpected visit which will include talks with Mr Khrushchev.

The visit, his second to the Soviet Union within a year, was announced only last night. He is making the trip at the invitation of Mr Khrushchev. An official statement in Moscow last night said they would exchange opinions on “questions of common interest.”

Dr. Castro—who paid a 37day visit to the Soviet Union last spring—would also rest and hunt in the snow-clad Soviet forests, the statement said. No details 'of the length of Dr. Castro’s visit were given. After Dr. Castro flew home from his last visit on June 3, he was expected to receive a return visit from Mr Khrushchev, but instead the Soviet leader sent Mr Nikolai Podgorny, Deputy Prime Minister. Western observers believe Dr. Castro and Mr Khrushchev will probably consider, among other things, recent incidents in the Panama Canal Zone, although it is thought the Cuban leader’s visit was arranged before they took place. Dr. Castro, wearing his usual olive green uniform and beret, was met at the airport by Mr Khrushchev, other Soviet leaders, and the diplomatic corps. The temperature was five degrees below zero.

Mr Khrushchev, who escorted the shivering Cuban leader into an airport building, said he was sure the visit would contribute to the strengthening of friendship between Cuba and Russia. He said he was happy that Dr. Castro had “kept his word” to return to Moscow to see a Russian winter. He teasingly told the Cuban leader, who when outside had clapped his gloveless

hands to keep warm: "It gets much colder.” A second plane landed soon after Dr. Castro’s, bringing Mr Podgorny and the Russian delegation which had flown to Cuba to take part in the fifth anniversary of the Castro revolution. In Washington yesterday, American officials said they had had no advance indication that Dr. Castro was planning a visit to Moscow. The Soviet announcement came as a complete surprise to authorities in Washington as it apparently did to those in other Western capitals. Some State Department officials were inclined to believe that Dr. Castro had “invited himself” and put the Russians in the position of having to announce a formal visit.