Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this Thursday during a press conference that “there is no cause for concern” on the part of the West regarding the possible creation of a military base of Russia in Cubahours after the arrival in Havana of a flotilla of four warships and a nuclear-powered submarine from Moscow.
A journalist asked Peskov if the Russian Federation planned to create a military base in Cuba, citing reports in Western media, to which the spokesperson seemed to want to silence the speculation, CNN reported.
“Military exercises are a normal practice in various regions of the world for all States, especially for a maritime power as large as the Russian Federation. Carrying out this type of maneuver is also common practice, so we see no cause for concern in this case. “That’s all I can say on this issue,” the official said.
Peskov’s comments come a week after Vladimir Putin warned that Russia could deliver long-range missiles to third countrieswho would use these weapons to attack “strategic points” in the territory of the Western allies that supply weapons to Ukraine, in what he described as a “symmetrical” response to Western arms deliveries to kyiv.
In an appearance before foreign media from St. Petersburg, the Kremlin leader, who did not mention which countries he was referring to, said that The West’s permission for kyiv to use weapons delivered for the defense of its territory against Russian soil constitutes a “very dangerous step”especially if those who send them also “control” their use.
Putin’s statements came on Wednesday, June 5, the same day that the United States reported having been tracking Russian vessels and combat aircraft headed to the Caribbean, and that they would make stops in Venezuela and Cuba.
The next day, the Cuban Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) advertisement the arrival in Havana of the Russian combat group, made up of the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, the Admiral Gorshkov frigate, one of the most modern ships in the Russian Navy, as well as the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker and the oil tanker Pashin. The flotilla will remain on the Island for five days.
This is Russia’s biggest show of force with its old ally since 2019.when, in the midst of the crisis over Moscow’s occupation of Crimea, Gorshkov visited Havana.
The MINFAR note also assured that “none of the ships carry nuclear weapons, so their stopover in our country does not represent a threat to the region.” The United States believes that the Kazan does not have nuclear weapons on board, but Moscow has not confirmed this.
Instead, a report from the Russian Interfax agency indicated last Wednesday, citing a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense, that “a detachment of ships from the Northern Fleet, including the Admiral Gorshkov frigate, which is armed with Zircon missiles, has arrived in Cuba.”
Previously, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that the Gorshkov and the Kazan worked on the use of high-precision weapons in the Atlantic Ocean, simulating the destruction of targets at a distance of more than 600 kilometers. .
According to open information cited by Interfax, “Admiral Gorshkov is the lead frigate of project 22350, and became the first carrier of Zircon hypersonic missiles. The ships of this project are also equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles.”
According to official information, the Kazan multipurpose nuclear submarine of the 885M Yasen-M project began operating in 2017 and became part of the Northern Fleet in 2021. The Kazan belongs to the fourth generation of nuclear submarines with a level of reduced acoustic field. “These submarines are equipped with long-range precision missile weapons,” the report concluded.
In 2023, Víctor Baranets, military expert of the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda and Kremlin spokesman, assured that Russia could transfer cruise missiles to Cuba and Venezuela “in the near future,” and although these would not carry nuclear charges, they could quickly and accurately hit strategic locations in the United States.
The retired colonel of the Russian Army explained that, “Instead of nuclear weapons, missiles with a range of 2,500 kilometers may appear on the Island. “In case of danger, Russia will be able to attack important infrastructure facilities in the United States.”
According to Baranets, “Russian submarines equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles could simply be sent to the region. Their range will be sufficient to attack the territory of the United States, if necessary.”
