(News NationRussia sent three warships and a nuclear submarine to Cuban waters on Tuesday, Regular military exercisesshowing a strength that makes some people uneasy.
“Vladimir Putin is up to his own devices again. He likes to scare people,” former spy Jack Barsky said during an appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill” on Wednesday.
Barsky was recruited by the KGB and sent to the United States, where he served as a spy for the Soviet Union for ten years.
He later left the KGB and lived in the United States under an assumed name for several decades, until he was discovered by the FBI.
Barsky, author of “Deep Undercover: My Secret Life and Intertwined Loyalties as a KGB Spy in the United States,” offers unique insight into Russian motivations in Cuba and elsewhere.
“These are things we have to worry about. We can’t just see this as a routine exercise. We have to see this against the backdrop of Putin saying that he is actually fighting the West in Ukraine,” Barsky said.
The Pentagon has expressed no interest in the Russian deployment, saying the visit was part of routine Navy activities andNot a threatTo America.
“Every action by Putin sends a message, and this is particularly threatening,” Barsky said.
Former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO General Wesley Clark He expressed similar sentiments on NewsNation’s “The Hill” on Tuesday, but said he doesn’t think the visit to Cuban waters means war.
“I don’t think it’s going to escalate into violence,” Clark said. “But [Vladimir Putin] Sending a message to America and the world? Absolutely.”
Barsky likened Russia’s presence in the Caribbean to the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which fears of nuclear war paralyzed the United States for nearly two weeks.
“With all that tension, there’s always the possibility of an accidental launch,” Barsky said. “That’s what we’re concerned about.”
