At least five US Navy ships and one from Canada sail within a short distance of the flotilla of boats Russia that will arrive in Havana Bay in the next few hours, and that includes the nuclear submarine Kazán and the frigate Almirante Gorshkov, the most lethal in Moscow’s Northern Fleet.
DIARIO DE CUBA confirmed through the site’s satellite monitoring system Marine Traffic that the formation made up of the tanker Akademik Pashin and the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker, part of the Russian deployment in Cuba, They sail surrounded by three destroyers, two sonar equipment tug vessels and a US Coast Guard ship.
X Profile Military Analysts TheIntelFrog they specified that Washington’s military vessels are the destroyers Traxtan and Donald Cook, as well as the Royal Canadian Navy frigate Ville de Quebec. Included in the deployment are the US Navy’s P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft and the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CP-140 Aurora patrol aircraft.
The Russian ships, which were detained on Monday in the Bahamas Strait, off the coast of Miami, resumed their movement towards Cuba, where they must arrive in the next few hours.
On their journey, the ships crossed paths with the Celebrity Reflection cruise ship, from where they were photographed by vacationers, indicated a profile of X, which published a snapshot.
Washington indicated last week that Russia is deploying ships to the Caribbean for military exerciseswhich will be held for the first time since 2019. The ships must stop in Cuba and Venezuela and, after the exercises, will remain in the region until the end of summer, to carry out another maneuver in the fall.
John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the White House National Security Council, told CBS that the United States has no data on the presence of nuclear weapons on Russian ships. These are also not expected to be used during exercises. However, he pointed out that, According to American intelligence, the Kazan submarine has a nuclear installation.
According to the same report, the United States Navy ships that follow the Russian flotilla will wait until it finishes its stay in Cuba and will follow it when it leaves Havana Bay.
The official Russian agency TASS reported that, during his trip to Cuba, both the Kazan nuclear submarine and the Admiral Gorshkov frigate are practicing the use of high-precision weapons in the Atlantic Ocean using computer simulation against naval targets, targeting simulated enemy ships located at a distance of more than 600 kilometers.
“The heterogeneous tactical naval strike group of the Northern Fleet, consisting of the multipurpose nuclear-powered submarine project 885M Kazan and the frigate Admiral of the Soviet Union Fleet Gorshkov, which performs long-range missions, has begun to carry out exercises on the use of high-precision missiles in the Atlantic Ocean,” reported the Ministry of Defense, cited by TASS.
Likewise, the combat group would have rehearsed how to repel an air attack.
The Ministry of the Armed Forces (MINFAR) of Cuba reported last week that the four Russian ships would be in Havana between June 12 and 17 as part of “an official visit.” The note assured that the combat group does not carry nuclear weapons, but this has not been confirmed by Moscow.
According to a diplomatic source who spoke to CNN, Interested Havana residents will be able to visit the Gorshkov frigate for three days after his arrival, scheduled for Wednesday.
The source itself added that the Russian ambassador in Havana will preside over a welcoming ceremony for the four ships.
