Russian sub – joined by three other naval vessels – will not be carrying nuclear weapons, authorities in Havana said as they announced the visit
Guardian staff and agenciesFri 7 Jun 2024 00.44 BSTLast modified on Fri 7 Jun 2024 10.50 BST
A Russian nuclear-powered submarine – which will not be carrying nuclear weapons – will visit Havana next week, Cuba’s communist authorities have announced, amid rising tensions with the US over the war in Ukraine.
The nuclear submarine Kazan and three other Russian naval vessels, including the missile frigate Admiral Gorshkov, an oil tanker and a salvage tug, will dock in the Cuban capital from 12-17 June, Cuba’s ministry of the revolutionary armed forces said in a statement.
“None of the vessels is carrying nuclear weapons, so their stopover in our country does not represent a threat to the region,” the ministry said.
The announcement came a day after US officials said that Washington had been tracking Russian warships and aircraft that were expected to arrive in the Caribbean for a military exercise. They said the exercise would be part of a broader Russian response to US support for Ukraine.
The US officials said that the Russian military presence was notable but not concerning. However, it comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that Moscow could take “asymmetrical steps” elsewhere in the world in response to President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use US-provided weapons to strike inside Russia to protect Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
The unusual deployment of the Russian military so close to the US – particularly the powerful submarine – comes amid major tensions over the war in Ukraine, where the western-backed government is fighting a Russian invasion. The Russian vessels’ visit to Cuba will also overlap with Biden’s visit to the G7 leaders summit in Italy.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel met with Putin last month for the annual 9 May military parade on Red Square outside the Kremlin.
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.
During the Russian fleet’s arrival at the port of Havana, 21 salvoes will be fired from one of the ships as a salute to the nation, which will be reciprocated by an artillery battery from Cuba’s revolutionary armed forces, the foreign ministry said.
D/C: Here is the Russian news story:
https://www.rt.com/russia/598911-russian-warships-visit-cuba/
RT: Russian warships will arrive in Cuba next week – Havana
The White House sees no “significant national security threat” coming from exercises around the island
Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov. © Sputnik
A group of Russian warships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, will pay an official visit to Cuba next week, Havana’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces has announced.
In a statement on Thursday, the ministry said that a total of four Russian vessels, including the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, oil tanker Pashin, and rescue tug Nikolay Chiker, will visit the island from June 12-17.
”None of the ships carries nuclear weapons, so their stopover in our country does not pose a threat to the region,” the officials said, adding that the visit to the island, which is around 140km off the coast of the US, “corresponds to the historically friendly relations between Cuba and the Russian Federation and strictly adheres to the international regulations.”
According to the ministry, the Russians will conduct a program of activities during their stay, including courtesy visits to the head of the Revolutionary Navy and the governor of Havana, and visits to places of historical and cultural interest. When the group arrives at the Port of Havana, one of the ships will fire a 21-gun salute, the statement added.
Commenting on the announcement, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby told CNN that while the US will closely follow the visit, it does not anticipate “any significant national security threat as a result of these exercises.” He went on to suggest that the visit – which he described as “not typical” but pre-scheduled – could be Moscow’s signal to Washington that it is “unhappy” with its efforts to support Ukraine.
US Senator Marco Rubio warned that the Russian exercises “should be a wake-up call to the Biden administration.”
“Our adversaries are dangerously close to our shores, and we must be prepared to defend the homeland from military and hybrid threats in our hemisphere,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
In 1962, Cuba became the arena of a major missile crisis that brought the US and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war. At the time, Moscow stationed nuclear weapons on the island in response to the deployment of American nuclear weapons in Türkiye, and to deter a potential US invasion of Cuba.
The Russian Defense Ministry has yet to comment on the visit, but in late May, it said that a group of warships from the Northern Fleet had set out for the Atlantic on a “long-distance expedition.” It stated that “the main goals of the expedition are to show the flag and ensure the naval presence in operationally important areas of the Far Sea zone.”
D/C: Putin playing chess again!
Mark Collins 3Ds Blog 