A flotilla of Russian naval vessels, including a nuclear submarine, arrived in Cuba on Wednesday morning, a sign of strengthening ties between the two Cold War allies.
The first of the four-ship flotilla, the Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov, fired 21 gun salutes after entering Havana harbor, which the Cubans responded with cannon fire from an 18th-century colonial fortress owned by the Cubans. The Spaniards defend the port.
The Gorshkov is one of the Russian Navy’s most modern ships, after the nuclear submarine Kazan, a rescue tug and an oil tanker.
Onlookers and fishermen lined the beach promenade to watch the ship arrive in port. A small Russian community and Russian diplomats waving flags to greet the crew.
The four Russian ships are currently docked in a berth normally occupied by cruise ships.
It is Russia’s biggest show of force against longtime ally Cuba in years. U.S. officials said the U.S. does not believe the Kazan is equipped with nuclear weapons.
The ships are on a five-day official visit to the Caribbean island, a show of force by Russia just 90 miles off Florida amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Russia over the Ukraine war.
Cubans will be allowed to tour the frigate once the convoy arrives, a Russian diplomatic.
A Russian diplomat told UAE Breaking News that starting Thursday, the Cuban “public” will be able to tour the frigate Gorshkov for four hours a day for three days. Military analysts believe the vessel is capable of long-range missions and anti-submarine warfare and could be equipped with weapons systems such as surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles.
Hhdhshdhdhd
US Navy “surveillance” exercise
A Russian warship conducted exercises in the Atlantic Ocean on its way to Cuba, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. Crews of the frigate and nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser used computer simulations to practice using high-precision missile weapons against targets at sea, identifying mock enemy ships more than 600 kilometers away, according to the Russian Defense Ministry and Russian state media outlet TASS.
U.S. military is using ships and aircraft to monitor Russian military exercises in the Atlantic and Caribbean, and has tracked Russian vessels crossing the Atlantic to Cuba in recent days.
U.S. Navy ships that have tracked Russian vessels include the USS Truxtun, the USS Donald Cook and the coast guard ship USCGC Stone, U.S. officials confirmed. The U.S. has also deployed air power, including P-8 Poseidon surveillance planes, to circle above the Russian vessels. Canada has also committed resources to monitor the activities, the official said.
The official added that the US monitors the convoy’s movements “constantly,” but that it is a normal part of US maritime homeland defense, and that all ships, including the Russian ones, remain in international waters.
Defense and State Department officials also sought to emphasize that Russian activity is routine and not a threat to the US, noting that Cuba hosted Russian vessels every year from 2013 to 2020.
Still, Russia’s passage through the region comes at a particularly tense time between Washington and Moscow, just weeks after President Joe Biden agreed to allow Ukraine to directly attack Russia with US-supplied weapons.
Transit “does not pose a threat”
Cuba said last week that such visits by naval forces from countries friendly to Havana were common practice, and insisted that the transit poses no threat to the region.
“Visits by naval units from other countries are a historical practice of revolutionary governments with countries with which they maintain relations of friendship and cooperation,” a statement from the Cuban Foreign Ministry said.
The Cuban Defense Ministry said the Russian ships do not carry nuclear weapons.
Cuba has long had good relations with Russia. It was a key ally of the former Soviet Union during the Cold War and briefly deployed nuclear missiles at Moscow’s request during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
The arrival of the ships on Wednesday shows Moscow is strengthening ties with Havana in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Cuba is also becoming increasingly dependent on Russian oil and aid as the communist-run country faces its worst economic crisis in decades.