OAN’s Brooke Mallory
Monday, June 10, 2024 12:35 PM
The Russian government announced last week that several Russian naval vessels, including a nuclear submarine, would visit Cuba this week as part of “historic friendly relations.”
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According to the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, in a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russian “frigate Gorshkov, nuclear submarine Kazan, fleet oil tanker Pasin and salvage tug Nikolai Chiker” are scheduled to visit the port of Havana from June 12 to 17.Number June 17Number.
Cuba maintains that the ships’ visits pose no threat to the region and that none of them carry nuclear weapons.
“Visits of naval forces of other countries are a historical practice of the revolutionary government with countries with which it maintains friendly and cooperative relations,” the statement added.
Russian naval ships have previously sent to Cuba, a key Cold War ally that temporarily stationed nuclear missiles there at Moscow’s request during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Russian Navy training ship Perekop arrived in Havana in July 2023 for a four-day visit.
Communist Cuba, mired in its biggest economic crisis in decades, has become increasingly dependent on Russian aid and energy.
Cuba’s declaration came days after U.S. President Joe Biden authorized the use of U.S. weapons against Ukraine to launch limited attacks on Russian territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking for the West, warned that “supplying weapons to conflict zones is always bad.”
“Finally, if we find that these countries are drawn into a war with us, and their actions directly contribute to a war with the Russian Federation, we will reserve the right to take similar action,” Putin said last Wednesday.
“As a countermeasure, we will improve our air defense systems to destroy the missiles,” Putin added.
The Russian president also questioned why Russia “does not have the right to supply such weapons to regions of the world where they would attack sensitive facilities of countries that are aggressing against Russia.”
The Russian military is expected to step up air and naval operations near U.S. waters this summer as part of routine preparations for large-scale international naval exercises in the fall, according to the State Department and Pentagon.
“Russia may deploy naval combat vessels to the Caribbean and potentially make port calls in Cuba or Venezuela,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Charlie Dietz said. “We also expect aircraft deployments and flights in the region. These deployments would be part of normal Russian naval operations and do not pose a direct threat to the United States.”
One of the Russian Navy’s Severodvinsk II-class submarines is scheduled to deploy with the Russian ships this summer, Dietz said. He added that approval for the submarine’s visit was “at least partly due to Havana’s discomfort” with a visit the previous year by a U.S. nuclear submarine to Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay naval base.
Dietz said the exercises “impose significant costs on the Russian Navy,” which “faces challenges in maintaining readiness and deployment with an aging fleet.” Cuba has hosted Russian ships every year from 2013 to 2020.
“Given Russia’s long history of port calls in Cuba, this is viewed as a routine naval visit, especially in the context of increased U.S. support for Ukraine and NATO exercises,” Dietz added.
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