Russian President Vladimir Putin called communist Cuba's new leader Miguel Diaz-Canel Tuesday to discuss strengthening the two countries' "strategic partnership," the Russian foreign ministry said in a message retweeted by its embassy in Havana.

The call came the day after Diaz-Canel took over from Raul Castro as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), the most powerful position in the one-party state that was an important Cold War ally of Russia.

Castro and his brother Fidel before him had successively held the post for more than six decades.

In Tuesday's call, Putin and Diaz-Canel "confirmed their mutual willingness to strengthen the strategic partnership as well as to coordinate efforts in the fight against the spread of #COVID19," said the tweet.

The Kremlin had earlier issued a statement congratulating Diaz-Canel and expressing willingness to "develop a constructive bilateral dialogue and mutually-beneficial cooperation" between the two nations.

While Russia seeks closer ties, Cuba's relations with the United States have been at a low since then-President Donald Trump reinforced sanctions following an historic but temporary easing of tensions under Barack Obama between 2014 and 2016.