Russian and Cuban leaders meet in Moscow, hail ‘traditional friendship’

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday met with his Cuban counterpart in Moscow, where the two unveiled a monument to Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and hailed the "traditional friendship" between their sanctions-hit nations. A video published on the Kremlin's website showed Putin and the Cuban head of state, Miguel Dà­az-Canel, deliver speeches as Russian military guards flanked a bronze statue of Castro. The late Castro embraced Soviet-style communism after taking a leading role in a revolution which in 1959 drove dictator Fulgencio Batista from power. He went on to defy a crippling U.S. embargo and dozens of…