Business opportunities lure the Russians back to Cuba.

With the tensions sparked by the collapse of the Soviet Union now a fading memory, Russians seem eager to reactivate their once-vibrant trade relations with Cuba.

Russians arriving in Cuba now dress in blue jeans and designer suits and smoke Marlboros, but behind the facade, the new Russian executives haven't forgotten the not-too-distant time when Moscow was Cuba's No. 1 benefactor. These people seem determined to recover at least part of their old commercial influence on the island.

President Vladimir Putin visited Havana in 2000, but it was last year's visit of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that defined areas of bilateral cooperation. Russia and Cuba vowed to "create conditions to establish closer links between businesspeople from both nations."

At the top of the agenda was Cuba's enormous debt to Russia--estimated by some at $25 billion.

"We hope that the question of restructuring this debt will soon be solved. This will open the way for signing new credit agreements," said Grigori Elkin, head of the Russian delegation to the Cuba-Russia Intergovernmental Mixed Commission.

The problem dates back to the dissolution of the USSR and the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe in the early '90s. That resulted in the loss of 76% of Cuba's overseas market. Exports tumbled by half, and the island has never really recovered from the blow.

In 1993, says the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Russia gave Cuba a $350 million credit to finance Russian imports, but by 1999 only $95 million had actually been disbursed due to a lack of consensus on terms of payment.

The credit was halted, further hampering trade. After Lavrov's visit, negotiations were restarted on the payment issue, though it's far from being resolved.

Despite all this, Cuban-Russian trade rose 23% last year compared to 2003 levels, and Russia rose from 11th to 9th place among Cuba's largest suppliers. It currently ranks as Cuba's No. 5 customer for imports.

Eight big Russian companies have offices in Havana, while in Moscow, 12 Cuban entities have branches, among them the ministries of tourism, transport, basic industry and sugar, as well as cigar exporter Habanos S.A.

Leading the Cuban delegation is government minister Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuba's former foreign trade minister during the years when trade with the Soviets constituted 80% of the island's total commerce.

During his trip to Havana last month, Elkin met with Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque. Together with Cabrisas, they analyzed the state of Cuban-Russian relations and created a bilateral business committee to be headed by Alejandro Mustelier, currently director of state sugar export agency Cubazucar.

The committee is comprised of 59 Cuban enterprises engaged in trade with Russia, mainly in the areas of transportation, biotechnology, basic industry, oil, tourism and sugar.

Vice-presidents include Roberto Millares of the central division of Grupo Unecamoto (construction and machinery) and Francisco Machado of the firm Heber Biotec, which is the commercial arm of Havana's Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

Mustelier said the business committee is vital in promoting bilateral relations. Among its members is the Banco Exterior de Cuba, which provides export insurance.

"We have well-defined work areas to make two-way trade increase," he told CubaNews. "Besides the political conditions, in business we find greater organization and receptivity on the part of the Russians. This means finding the right partners and more stable and permanent business associations."

Mustelier added: "We are going to channel our collective experience in order to find trade and financial mechanisms that will provide solutions to any problem."