Russia has scrapped 90 percent of Cuba's debt to Moscow, the Kremlin press service said Friday.
The announcement came on the same day when President Vladimir Putin arrived in Cuba early Friday for an official visit to the island, the first stop of his Latin America tour.
Russian and Cuban governments signed a protocol last October over the debt, which amounted 35.2 billion U.S. dollars and was accumulated when Cuba was a Soviet ally in the second half of the 20th century.
The remaining 10 percent of the debt will be restructured and paid by Cuba during next 10 years, and the money will be re-invested into Cuban economy.
Russia has earlier written off debts worth 116 billion dollars to such countries as Afghanistan, Mongolia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Syria and Libya. .