Evoking Castro, Putin and Cuban leader pledge to deepen ties

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend an unveiling ceremony of a monument to late Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Moscow, Russia November 22, 2022. Sputnik/Sergey Guneev/Kremlin via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel unveiled a monument in a north Moscow square on Tuesday to Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, pledging to deepen their friendship in the face of U.S. sanctions against both countries.

Castro, who took power in 1959, is not commemorated by statues in his homeland because, his brother Raul said after his death in 2016, he wanted to avoid a personality cult.