Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev drinking wine from a drinking horn in the Soviet Republic of Georgia,1963

Relations between Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev began when Cuba became a communist country and Cuba began to establish closer ties with the Soviet Union.

Both Fidel and Nikita shared similar beliefs, such that communism is the best type of government rather than capitalism. During the Cold War, Cuba relied on Soviet markets and military aid.

On April 27, 1963, the leader of the Cuban Revolution made his first visit to the USSR, a trip that lasted forty days. He managed to see a lot of cities and visit many factories, secret military bases, a nuclear submarine, walk through Moscow without security guards, talk to officials and ordinary people. He became the first foreigner to appear on the mausoleum stage and even received the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

Castro talked about the development of Soviet agriculture, repeatedly emphasizing the need to use Soviet experience in solving the internal tasks of socialist construction in Cuba.

Castro insisted that the Soviet people "expressed their love and solidarity for Cuba by their actions". On the trip, Castro and Khrushchev negotiated new sugar export deals and agricultural methods to solve the main problem in increasing sugar production.

Despite Soviet efforts to appease Castro, Cuban–Soviet relations were still plagued by many difficulties. Taking advantage of the growing Sino-Soviet conflict, Castro increased contacts with the People's Republic of China and announced his intention to remain neutral and maintain fraternal relations with all socialist states.

The Sino-Soviet split also affected Castro's relationship with Che Guevara, who adopted a more Maoist approach after an ideological conflict between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of China. In 1966, Guevara left for Bolivia in an unfortunate attempt to stir up a revolution against the country's government.