Four Russian naval vessels, including a nuclear-powered submarine, arrived in Cuba on Wednesday for a five-day stopover, amid growing tensions between the United States and Russia.
Shortly after 10:00 local time, the submarine « Kazan » entered Havana Bay, showing part of its kiosk and its turret next to which a Cuban flag was visible, AFP journalists noted.
Two hours earlier, the tanker « Pashin » and the tug “Nikolai Chiker” decorated with the white, blue and red colors of the Russian flag, were the first to enter the port, followed by the frigate « Admiral Gorshkov ».
“None of the ships carry nuclear weapons, so their stopover in our country does not pose a threat to the region”the Cuban Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (Minfar) indicated last week.
This is a visit that “strictly respects the international rules to which Cuba adheres” and which responds to “historical relations of friendship” between Havana and Moscow, he said.
The Russian nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, part of the Russian naval detachment visiting Cuba, arrives in the port of Havana on June 12, 2024 / YAMIL LAGE / AFP
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, cited Wednesday by the Interfax news agency, that before entering the port of Havana, the fleet had carried out “an exercise on the use of high-precision missile weapons”.
For the deputy spokesperson of the Pentagon, Sabrina Singh, the arrival of these ships in Havana “is not a surprise, as the Russians have already made such stops on the Caribbean island”. And not “does not pose a threat to the United States”whose nearest coasts are about 160 km from Havana.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, however, stressed that this fleet “has a submarine” nuclear powered “that the fleets that came (to Cuba) before did not have”.
“Strategic” relationships
At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez met in Moscow on Wednesday.
According to a statement from the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Mr. Rodriguez expressed to Mr. Lavrov “his government’s rejection of the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization towards the Russian border”which, according to him, “led to the current conflict in Europe, and in particular between Moscow and kyiv”.
He also called for “a diplomatic, constructive and realistic solution to the crisis in the region”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (left) and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez (right) during a meeting in Moscow on June 12, 2024 / NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / POOL/AFP
In May, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel visited the Russian capital and attended with President Vladimir Putin the parade marking the Soviet victory over the Nazis in 1945, against a backdrop of tensions with Western powers over the conflict in Ukraine .
The Cuban leader then wished Russia ” success “ in its war against Ukraine, according to the Russian agency Tass.
Political relations between the two former Cold War allies have intensified since a meeting between the presidents of the two countries in Moscow at the end of 2022. Vladimir Putin sees relations with Cuba as “strategic”.
In almost two years, several official and commercial delegations have also visited the two countries to promote investments and economic cooperation projects.
A Russian navy fleet visited Cuba in 2019, at a time of high tensions between Havana and Washington after Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021) came to power.
For more than six decades, Washington has imposed a financial and commercial embargo on Cuba, which Donald Trump reinforced by including the island on his blacklist of countries supporting terrorism.
Joe Biden, his Democratic successor, kept it on this list and did not substantially modify the sanctions.
Russia is also under Western trade sanctions over its war with Ukraine.
A patrol ship of the Royal Canadian Navy, the « HMCS Margaret Broooke » is also expected in Havana on Friday as part of the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, according to the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
