The arrival of powerful Russian naval assets with missile capabilities to Cuban waters offers multiple readings
The scene took place last Wednesday near the coast of Havana. A somewhat unusual fleet had arrived there: a frigate and a nuclear-powered submarine, along with two other ships, all from the Russian navy, and parked for a five-day visit. Of course, the initial surprise was followed by questions.
Russian “invasion” in Havana. No one is aware that Russia is in the eye of the storm of several geopolitical controversies. Without going too far, this same week figures were indicated for the country’s “debt” derived from carbon emissions from the war in Ukraine. The possible evasion of sanctions in the war with the use of American chips for its weapons was also questioned, and a few weeks ago the planet became “indigested” again when they announced an unusual reserve of oil and gas in the Argentine Antarctic.
With these things, the fact that part of its marine fleet is stranded in the Bay of Havana was still an unusual fact, to say the least. That said, the Kremlin has wanted to bring peace very quickly, arguing that it is a normal practice “for all states, including a maritime power as large as Russia. So we don’t see any cause for concern in this case,” they stated.
The nuclear submarine. In this case it is the Kazan model of the Severodvinsk class. We are talking about a model that entered service in 2021, an extremely difficult to detect class that combines stealth and great attack power and has the capacity to fire Yasen-M class guided missiles with a range of 1,000 nautical miles.
Gorshkov frigate. We are looking at the latest generation model of the Russian navy. The frigate entered action in 2018 and has so far participated in multinational maneuvers and training exercises with the launch of Tsirkon hypersonic missiles in 2023. These weapons, which the Kremlin claims are unbeatable, are relatively new to Moscow’s arsenal.
Reaction of Cuba and the United States. The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs released an institutional statement explaining that the ships do not represent any threat. For its part, the Pentagon simply said that it is monitoring the situation, but does not foresee any threat from warships.
“Again, I think the important thing here is that what Russia is doing in these exercises does not pose a threat to the United States, but of course we will continue to monitor it,” he said.
Still, the US is getting closer. Curiously, the United States brought the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Helena closer to sailing to Guantanamo Bay, about 500 miles away from the Russian ships, yesterday Thursday. The United States was quick to release a statement explaining that the submarine was there as part of a routine port visit. According to CBS, the US Navy also brought in marine drones.
The Russian motif. It is the big question outside of the typical protocol statements. The Moscow Defense Ministry has explained that its crews were practicing “the use of high-precision missiles through computer simulation against naval targets.”
In any case, it is not a typical “visit,” which is why many interpret it as a show of force amid Moscow’s tensions with the West over the war in Ukraine. We remember that Havana is 145 kilometers from the state of Florida. Geopolitically, the visit also suggests an important symbol of support for the communist government of Cuba and its ally, Venezuela, where the warships could sail next after finishing in Havana.
Peace in Ukraine? In the last few hours Putin seems to have set his conditions to talk about peace with Ukraine before the summit in Switzerland. Apparently, Moscow will declare a ceasefire if Kyiv withdraws from the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and also renounces NATO, in the words of the Russian president.
Putin added that if this proposal is rejected, the conditions in the future will change. If the conflict continues and the reality on the ground changes, “the conditions for negotiations will be different,” he concluded.
Image | Ministry of Defense of Russia
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