"As part of his trip to Latin America ... this month, the president will also visit Cuba," spokeswoman Natalya Timakova told reporters on the sidelines of a European Union-Russia summit in the French resort of Nice.

Russia has been building ties with Latin American leaders who are cool towards the United States, a drive the Kremlin said is about trade but which some analysts say is designed to signal to Washington that Russia is once again a world power.

Medvedev had been scheduled only to visit Venezuela, Brazil and Peru on his tour of the region. His spokeswoman did not give an exact date for the Cuban leg of the trip.


Agencies