Four ships of the Russian Navy arrived in Cuba on Wednesday, including a nuclear-powered submarine. The nuclear submarine “Kazan”, the frigate “Admiral Gorshkov”, the tanker “Pashin” and the tug “Nikolai Chiker” will be staying in the port of Havana for several days. 21 salvos were fired when the frigate “Admiral Gorshkov” arrived off the coast of the Caribbean state, local media reported on Wednesday.
“None of the ships are carrying nuclear weapons,” stressed the Cuban Foreign Ministry. Their stay in Cuba “does not represent a threat to the region.” It was a port visit based on international agreements that Cuba “strictly” follows and the “historical friendly relations” between Havana and Moscow, the ministry added.
However, the stationing of Russian naval ships in the immediate vicinity of the USA comes amid increasing tensions between Russia and the West over the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. A Pentagon spokeswoman stated that the presence of the Russian ships did not “pose a threat to the USA”. It is also not the first port visit by Russian warships in Cuba.
However, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stressed that no nuclear submarine had ever been involved.
Russia has been strengthening its relations with the communist government in Cuba since 2022 in search of new trading partners. In November 2022, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel traveled to Moscow to meet Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. In April 2023, the Cuban President assured Moscow of “Cuba’s unconditional support” in its “fight with the West.” Cuba did not criticize the attack on Ukraine.
During the Cold War, Cuba was an important ally of the then Soviet Union. The stationing of Soviet nuclear missiles on the island triggered the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the world was on the brink of a nuclear war between the two superpowers, the USA and the USSR, for two weeks.