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WASHINGTON.- A United States Navy submarine arrived this Thursday at Guantánamo Bay, on the island of Cuba, in a show of force in response to the fleet of Russian warships gathering for planned military exercises in the Caribbean.
The United States Southern Command indicated that the USS Helena, A nuclear-powered fast attack submarine arrived in waters near the US base at Guantánamo, just one day after a Russian frigate, a nuclear-powered submarine, a tanker and a rescue tug They crossed into the Bay of Havana after carrying out exercises in the Atlantic Ocean.
The stop is part of a “routine port visit”, as the submarine travels through the Southern Command region, he stated in a social media post. Other American ships They have also been tracking and monitoring Russian exercises, which according to Pentagon officials do not represent a threat.
“This is not a surprise. “We have seen them make these types of port calls before,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Wednesday when asked about the Russian exercises. “Of course we take it seriously, but these exercises They do not pose a threat for the United States”.
However, the exercises come less than two weeks after the president Joe Biden authorize Ukraine to use weapons provided by the United States to attack inside Russia and protect Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. Russian President Vladimir Putin later suggested that his military could respond with “asymmetric steps” in other parts of the world.
Singh said it won’t be a surprise to see more Russian activity around the United States in such global exercises. The drills are carried out in international waters and the North American authorities Russian ships expected to remain in region through summer and possibly they will also stop in Venezuela.
Russia is an old ally of Venezuela and Cuba, and its warships and planes have periodically made raids in the Caribbean. Russian ships have occasionally docked in Havana since 2008, when a group of Russian vessels entered Cuban waters in what state media described as the first visit of its kind in almost two decades.
In 2015, a reconnaissance and communications ship arrived without prior notice to Havana one day before the start of talks between North American and Cuban officials on the reopening of diplomatic relations.
Russia said Thursday that the United States you shouldn’t get nervous for the presence of its warships in Cuba. “Is about a normal practice for all States, including a maritime power as great as Russia,” declared Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov. “So we don’t see any reason to worry in this case”.
Asked what signal Moscow was sending, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said for her part that the West he never seemed to notice when Russia was sending signals through diplomatic channels.
“When it comes to maneuvers or sea travel, we immediately hear questions and the desire to know what these messages are about,” Zakharova said. “Why do only signals related only to our Army and Navy reach the West?” she asked. “Why does the West remain completely deaf, and then invents the most powerful campaigns to prevent Russian signals from entering their information kingdom?
During the Cold War, the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles on the island triggered the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when Washington and Moscow were on the verge of going to war.
Agencies AFP and Reuters
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