In a show of force amid escalating US-Russian tensions, a Russian nuclear-powered submarine and other naval warships landed in Cuba on Wednesday for a five-day visit to the communist island off the coast of Florida.
The warship Admiral Gorshkov, an oil tanker, and a salvage tug accompanied the submarine Kazan, which Cuba claims is not carrying nuclear weapons.
In a statement, the Russian military ministry stated that the fleet had “completed an exercise on the use of high-precision missile weapons” before pulling into the port of Havana.
Amidst significant tensions over the conflict in Ukraine, where the government supported by the West is battling a Russian invasion, the Russian military has made an extraordinary deployment thus near to the United States, especially with regard to the potent submarine.
Additionally, as the two former Cold War allies deepen their ties, it coincided with a meeting between Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday in Moscow.
According to a statement from the Cuban foreign ministry, Rodriguez stated during the meeting that his country “rejects the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) towards the Russian border,” adding that this “led to the current conflict in Europe, and especially between Moscow and Kyiv.”
He also called for “a diplomatic, constructive and realistic solution” to the crisis.
One of Russia’s most advanced warships, the Kazan, and Admiral Gorshkov were spotted near Havana, which is roughly 90 miles (145 km) from Florida’s coast.
According to an AFP correspondent, the tanker Pashin and the tug arrived at the port early on Wednesday morning, flying the Russian tricolor of white, blue, and red.
“In the coming days, the crews of the ships and support vessels will take part in a number of protocol events,” Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement published by the Interfax news agency.
