Russian nuclear-powered submarine arrives in Cuba
The Russian nuclear-powered submarine Kazan and the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, part of the Russian naval detachment visiting Cuba, arrive at Havana’s harbor on June 12, 2024 (ADALBERTO ROQUE)
The Russian nuclear-powered submarine Kazan and the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, part of the Russian naval detachment visiting Cuba, arrive at Havana’s harbor on June 12, 2024 (ADALBERTO ROQUE)
A Russian nuclear-powered submarine and other naval vessels arrived in Cuba Wednesday for a five-day visit to the communist island off Florida’s coast in a show of force amid spiraling US-Russian tensions.
The submarine Kazan, which Cuba says is not carrying nuclear weapons, was accompanied by the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, as well as an oil tanker and a salvage tug.
Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement that prior to entering the Havana port, the fleet “completed an exercise on the use of high-precision missile weapons.”
The unusual deployment of the Russian military so close to the United States — particularly the powerful submarine — comes amid major tensions over the war in Ukraine, where the Western-backed government is fighting a Russian invasion.
“We of course take it seriously, but these exercises don’t pose a threat to the United States,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists.
The port call coincided on Wednesday with a meeting in Moscow between Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, as the two former Cold War allies further tighten their links.
During the meeting, Rodriguez expressed his government’s “rejection of the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) towards the Russian border,” which he said “led to the current conflict in Europe, and especially between Moscow and Kyiv,” according to a Cuban foreign ministry statement.
He also called for “a diplomatic, constructive and realistic solution” to the crisis.
The Kazan and Admiral Gorshkov, which is one of Russia’s most modern warships, could be seen just off Havana, which is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) from the tip of Florida.
The tanker Pashin and the tug, flying the white, blue and red tricolor of Russia, entered the harbor early Wednesday morning, an AFP reporter said.
“In the coming days, the crews of the ships and support vessels will take part in a number of protocol events,” Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement published by the Interfax news agency.
– ‘Historic relations’ –
Cuba’s military said the visit by the naval detachment “strictly complies with international regulations” and is a nod to “the historic relations of friendship” between Havana and Moscow.
Pentagon press secretary Singh said port calls of this nature are “routine naval visits that we’ve seen under different administrations.”
“We’re always constantly going to monitor any foreign vessels operating near US territorial waters.”
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel met with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last month for the annual May 9 military parade on Red Square outside the Kremlin.
He wished Russia “success” in its Ukraine offensive and condemned “the geopolitical manipulation” of the United States, in comments reported by Russia’s TASS news agency.
During the Cold War, Cuba was an important client state for the Soviet Union. The deployment of Soviet nuclear missile sites on the island triggered the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when Washington and Moscow came close to war.
Relations between Russia and Cuba have become closer since a 2022 meeting between Diaz-Canel and Putin.
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Moscow revives gunboat diplomacy with nuclear submarine visit to Cuba
Sergio Cantone
Wed, 12 June 2024 at 1:05 pm GMT+1·3-min read
Moscow revives gunboat diplomacy with nuclear submarine visit to Cuba
A fleet of Russian warships reached Cuban waters on Wednesday ahead of planned military exercises in the Caribbean.
The military vessels flying the Saint Andrew’s banner — the flag of the Russian navy — are being carefully observed by the US Navy, which is particularly interested in getting a closer look at the rival fleet’s military capacity.
The group is composed of two Russian Navy crown jewels: the nuclear-powered Yasen-class cruise missile submarine Kazan and the Russian missile frigate Admiral Gorshkov.
Two auxiliary vessels, an oil tanker and a salvage tug, support the two sea combat units.
War games under the Caribbean sun?
The ships have been conducting exercises “on the use of precision missile weapons in the Atlantic Ocean” on their way to Cuba, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Admiral Alexander Moiseyev said.
This under-the-spotlight return of the Russian military presence to Cuba has been welcomed by the regime in Havana after years of isolation since the last days of the Soviet Union in 1989 — the year of the last visit to the island by a Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachov.
“During the exercise, the crews of the frigate and the nuclear-powered submarine have been practising the use of high-precision missile weapons by means of computer modelling against sea targets, which indicate ship groups of the conditional enemy and are located at a distance of more than 600 kilometres,” Admiral Moiseyev added.
n this photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, the Russian navy’s Admiral Gorshkov frigate is seen en route to Cub
n this photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, the Russian navy’s Admiral Gorshkov frigate is seen en route to Cub – AP/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service
The ships have passed within a few dozen kilometres of the Florida coast, according to sources in the Russian ministry of defence.
White House spokesman John Kirby said earlier that the US was monitoring the situation surrounding the visit of Russian Navy ships to Cuba but “did not see it as a threat to its national security”.
Shark hunting near Miami
The US Navy has been following the wake of the nuclear submarine with the P-8 Poseidon “submarine hunter” plane.
Cuba’s foreign ministry said the Russian warships will stay in Havana until next Monday, noting that none of them currently carry nuclear weapons and assuring that their presence “does not pose a threat to the region”.
Havana wants to avoid any parallel with the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 when the Soviet attempt to deploy nuclear warheads on the communist-ruled island just 150 kilometres from the continental US brought the world to the verge of World War III.
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This is not the first time Russia has sent its warships to the Caribbean, but the visit came in the wake of President Vladimir Putin’s warning that Moscow could respond to a decision by Western allies of Ukraine to allow Kyiv to use its weapons to strike targets in Russia by providing similar weapons to Western adversaries around the world.
The mission of the military ships is also aiding the Russian political approach to the Global South, where it wants to demonstrate its capacity for flexing its military might as well as brag about the strength of its navy after the blows inflicted on it by the Ukrainian drones and missiles against the Black Sea fleet.
AFP
