Russian warships, nuclear submarine arrive in Cuba for joint naval exercise

Americas, Europe, News June 12, 2024 , by IRIA No Comments

Three Russian naval ships and a nuclear-powered submarine arrived in Cuba for military exercises in the Caribbean. Considering the proximity of the missile exercises, the U.S. Navy has dispatched vessels to monitor Russia’s activity.

The Russian naval group is composed of the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, the rescue tug Nikolay Chiker, the tanker Akademik Pashin, and the nuclear submarine Kazan. Cuba’s foreign ministry said none of the two naval forces will carry any nuclear weapons during the drills and assuring their presence “does not represent a threat to the region.”

“This visit stems from the historic friendly relations between Cuba and Russia and is strictly in line with international rules,” the Cuban Defense Ministry said in a statement. During their stay, the Russian sailors will follow a program of activities including courtesy visits to the Cuban Navy’s commander and the governor of Havana. They will also visit places of historical and cultural interest,” the statement added.

During the fleet’s arrival at the port of Havana, 21 salvos will be fired from one of the ships as a salute to the nation, which will be reciprocated by an artillery battery of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces, the foreign ministry said.

Missile drills

Russian Defense Ministry announced on June 11, that a naval frigate and a nuclear-powered submarine conducted missile drills in the Atlantic Ocean while heading toward Cuba. The drills, involving the submarine Kazan and the warship Admiral Gorshkov, featured the firing of high-precision missiles at simulated enemy targets from over 600 km.

Russia's Kazan nuclear-powered submarine — *^{Russia’s Kazan nuclear-powered submarine. (Image Credit: Lev Fedoseyev/TASS)}*

Additionally, Admiral Gorshkov recently practiced defending against an air attack, according to the ministry’s statement. Admiral Gorshkov has been used by Russia to test and deploy its Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles and took part in joint exercises with the Chinese and South African navies in 2023.

US to closely monitor

The joint naval exercise and the live fire visit drills occur amid rising tensions between the United States and Russia due to U.S. support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian forces. Additionally, it follows a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia could supply long-range weapons to countries capable of targeting the West in response to Western military aid to Ukraine in the conflict that has persisted for over two years.

Some open-source intelligence analysts on social media reported that the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone shadowed a Russian flotilla off the east coast of Florida, near Cape Canaveral. The United States did not consider the anticipated arrival of the flotilla in the Western Hemisphere to be a threat. However, a U.S. Navy official informed the media that the U.S. Navy would closely monitor the exercises.