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HAVANA.- Warships of the Russian Navylike a frigate and a nuclear submarine, They began arriving on Wednesday at the port of the capital of Cuba after carrying out practice maneuvers in the Atlantic Ocean, while The US Navy deployed warships and aircraft to monitor them.
Minutes before 8 (9 in Argentina) he entered the bay of Havana at the forefront of the flotilla. oil tanker Pashin, followed by the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker decorated with the white, blue and red stripes of the Russian flag.
On a gray morning due to the fog and persistent rain of the previous night, the Kazan nuclear submarine It appeared on the horizon showing a part of its hump and turret above the sea surface; back, the Admiral Gorshkov frigate It was approaching the bay that borders the Cuban capital. The boats sailed accompanied by guides, small boats that direct their progress through the narrow entrance channel.
Small groups of fishermen and other curious people located along the promenade of Havana’s Malecón welcomed the imposing ships that passed near the Castillo del Morro, a colonial fortress about 400 years old, at the entrance to the port. habanero.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry had confirmed last week in a statement the visit of the Russian fleet, which will last five days.
Admiral Gorshkov is equipped with the new Zircon hypersonic missiles. The weapon has been designed to arm Russian cruisers, frigates and submarines, and could be used against both enemy ships and land targets.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putindescribed the Zircon missile as a powerful weapon capable of penetrating any existing missile defense by flying nine times faster than the speed of sound up to a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers.
The day before, Russian media published statements from the Ministry of Defense in Moscow indicating that ships belonging to the Northern Fleet were carrying out maneuvers in the Atlantic, which began on Tuesday.
The Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (Minfar) indicated last week that Russian ships do not carry nuclear weapons and do not represent a “threat to the region.”
The US intelligence community, for its part, also evaluated that none of the Russian ships carry nuclear weaponsaccording to him Miami Herald, and that the administration of the American president, Joe Biden, is not concerned about this activity.
Even so, the United States authorized the deployment of three powerful destroyers and an underwater reconnaissance aircraft to the region, as indicated to the American media by an official from the United States Northern Command.
“In accordance with standard procedures, we have been actively monitoring Russian ships as they transit the Atlantic Ocean within international waters,” the official told Miami Herald. “Air and sea assets under the United States Northern Command have conducted operations to ensure the defense of the United States and Canada. Russia’s deployments “They are part of routine naval activity that does not represent a direct threat or concern to the United States.”
Also A Royal Canadian Navy patrol ship HMCS Margaret Brooke will arrive on the island on Friday, in the context of the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Cuba and Canada, the Cuban Foreign Ministry reported.
Havana is located just 160 kilometers from Key West, Florida, where a United States Naval Air Station is located. The visit comes as the Biden administration reflects on how far it can go to help defend Ukraine against Russia.
Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, told the agency to AP that “Russian military and defense doctrine keeps Latin America and the Caribbean in an important position.” “The region is seen as a sphere of American influence and, therefore, it is the counterweight to the projection of American power in the European theater, especially in the near abroad of Russia,” he added.
The specialist opined that “although this is probably nothing more than a provocation by Moscow, sends a message about Russia’s ability to project power in the Western Hemisphere with the help of its allies and certainly will keep the US military on high alert while in theater”.
“Visiting Russian warships are Putin’s way [Vladimir] to remind Biden that Moscow can challenge Washington in its own sphere of influence”said William Leogrande, professor at American University, in the same vein.
The scale also coincides with the Cuba’s worst economic crisis in decades, with shortages ranging from food, medicine and fuel, in addition to prolonged blackouts.
“That (…) has echoes of the Cold War, but unlike the first Cold War, Cubans are attracted to Moscow not by ideological affinity but by economic necessity“, he claimed.
History looms large in Cuba, especially when it comes to Russia and its predecessor the Soviet Union. The Cuban missile crisis broke out in 1962. when the Soviet Union responded to the deployment of American missiles in Turkey by sending ballistic missiles to the Caribbean island, provoking a confrontation that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Moscow and Havana are once again strengthening their ties. The Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, visited the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for the fourth time in May, when he attended a military parade in Moscow, where he said Russia could always count on Cuba’s help and wished it success in the war in Ukraine.
“We wish Russia success in carrying out the special military operation,” said Díaz-Canel, who condemned “the geopolitical manipulation” of the United States and “NATO’s threat to approach the borders” of Russia, quoted by the Russian news agency TASS.
The arrival of the fleet also occurs on the same day as Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met in Moscow, reported the Cuban Foreign Ministry.
The visit of the Russian frigate “is strictly in accordance with the international regulations to which Cuba is a State party” and responds to “the historic friendly relations” between Havana and Moscow, said the Cuban army.
In March, Russia delivered 90,000 metric tons of oil to Cuba to help alleviate shortages while pledging to cooperate with Havana on projects ranging from sugar production to infrastructure, renewable energy and tourism.
Agencies AP, AFP and Reuters
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