Moscow - Cuban Foreign Minsiter Felipe Perez Roque met with Russian leaders in Moscow on Tuesday in the latest sign of strengthening military and economic ties between the Soviet-era allies.

Roque carried an invitation for an official visit to President Dmitry Medvedev from Cuban leader Raul Castro, news agency Interfax reported.

"We have overcome the pause that appeared in our relations in the past decade, and today our contacts are intensive and positive," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in televised comments. "Cuba has been and remains one of our key partners in Latin America."

Moscow - Russian arms manufacturers need urgent help from the state to meet their defence orders amid the global credit crunch, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Tuesday.

Russia is the world's second-largest weapons exporter after the United States, and the Kremlin's aggressive salesmanship has produced a flush of billion-dollar deals in recent months.

But the industry is facing a cash drought that is threatening state-owned manufacturers' ability to carry through contracts, the news agency Interfax cited Ivanov as saying.

Moscow - The sting of the financial crisis was the main reason for the European Union in reopening talks on a partnership pact with Moscow despite EU criticism of Russia's war with Georgia in August, a top Russian lawmaker said Tuesday.

Mikhail Margelov, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia's upper house of parliament, suggested that the EU's decision was driven by pure economic pragmatism.

"In Brussels they felt how uncomfortable it is to parade around for a long time with their fist clenched," he told the news agency Interfax.

The fact that Europe and Russia need each other economically, especially as the global financial crisis reorders priorities, is obvious as the European Union (EU) said Monday that it would resume negotiations with Russia that it had halted during Russia’s war with Georgia.

On September 1, EU leaders decided to postpone the talks indefinitely after Russia, responding to a Georgian attack on the pro-Moscow enclave of South Ossetia, invaded Georgia, and then recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Brussels - European Union foreign ministers sidelined Lithuanian objections Monday and decided to re-start talks on a strategic treaty with Russia which it froze after Russia's August war with Georgia.

"It was a very solid discussion, all EU member states except one are in line to take up the (EU-Russia) partnership talks again," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who chaired the talks as holder of the EU's rotating presidency.

Brussels - The European Union's decision to re-open talks on a strategic treaty with Russia even though its key demand has not been fulfilled may smack of diplomatic defeat, but it is a victory of pragmatism over principle, analysts said Monday.

"It's a question of how the EU could have more leverage in pressuring Russia to meet its interests. Suspending talks is unlikely to have an impact, dialogue is more likely