The hi-tech listening post Russia used to spy on the United States from Cuba may once again gather intelligence , according to a Russian newspaper report . The Kommersant business daily on Wednesday said the Lourdes signals intelligence facility , which was mothballed in 2001 , would reopen as part of a deal struck by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Cuban President Raul Castro . Putin visited Cuba on Friday to strengthen ties with the island and lauded a recent deal that forgave over $ 30 billion in Soviet-era debt that Cuba still owed its former communist ally . During the daylong visit to Cuba , Putin and Raul Castro announced agreements on a wide variety of issues , including a pact to safeguard each country 's national security . Cuban and Russian officials and a U.S. State Department spokeswoman would not comment on the report of the reopening of the base . If Lourdes reopens , it is not clear how soon the defunct facility will again be operational or how much Russia would pay to be able to monitor U.S. telecommunications from Cuba . After the collapse of the Soviet Union , Russia paid a reported $ 200 million each year to maintain Lourdes . When the facility was closed in 2001 , it further strained Russian and Cuban relations . Part of the sprawling facility has been turned into a computer science university , but many of the Soviet-era buildings have fallen into disrepair . Trees and bushes have grown around collapsed buildings and goats hunting for food wander around the once top secret and tightly guarded facility . A university official who only gave his name as Benjamin said he doubted Russia could restore Lourdes to its role as a cutting edge listening post just off U.S. shores . `` Look around here , '' he said , gesturing at the mounds of rubble and trash , `` Not even in their dreams . ''
Lourdes signals intelligence facility in Cuba to reopen , Russian paper says . Vladimir Putin met last week with President Raul Castro . Intelligence facility closed in 2001 , has become overgrown and full of goats .