Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Dmitry Medvedev: Mr President, I’m pleased to meet with you again. I fondly recall our meetings in Cuba, meetings with you and with Fidel. I think it’s great that we are able to meet so often.
Thank you once again for coming. For us the 70th anniversary of Victory is a special holiday, and it is great to see good friends on this occasion. This is a celebration, but we’ll still talk some business.
Welcome once again!
Raul Castro (via interpreter): First of all, I’d like to thank you for the invitation to take part in celebrating the 70th anniversary of Victory.
I was alive when you won. I was 14 and I remember the news reports about the course of this enormous war. This is why I just couldn’t miss the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of Victory. I’ve also come here because of our continuing friendship and the ties between our two nations. I hope the weather on the holiday is as nice as today, so that the festivities and the parade go smoothly on the wonderful Red Square.
Dmitry Medvedev: I have a feeling the weather will be okay.
Raul Castro: I also think it will be good.
Dmitry Medvedev: I’m sure it will be good, all the more so since you’ve come. There is much to see – lots of planes and helicopters will fly by, not to mention the vehicles that will drive by.
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