On Wednesday, dozens of Havana residents gathered and watched Russian warships enter Cuba’s main port – in Moscow’s latest show of naval strength amid rising tensions with the United States.
The Caribbean nation neighbors the US, which at its closest point is just 150 kilometers (94 miles) away, but has had tense relations for decades.
Although it is not the first time that Russian naval vessels have visited Cuba, this convoy appears to be the largest in several years. The fleet is expected to remain in place between the 12th and 17th of June and the public will be able to take tours of the vessels.
Here’s what we know about why Russia has sent ships to Cuba now, how far Russian-Cuban ties go back, and why the two have grown closer over the past year:
Why are warships in Havana?
The flotilla is part of a routine “friendly” visit between the navies of the two countries, Cuban officials said. The crew on board are expected to conduct military training exercises during their time in the Caribbean.
But analysts say Moscow’s move is largely calculated to loosen naval strength in the U.S. backyard. The deployment comes after tensions escalated between Russia and the US, following President Joe Biden’s decision in May to allow Ukraine to attack Russian targets with American weapons.
Russian President Putin has promised retaliation not only against the US, but also against Ukraine’s other Western allies, who have also removed restrictions on the use of their weapons against Moscow.
“This would mark your direct involvement in the war against the Russian Federation, and we reserve the right to act in the same way,” Putin said last week, adding that Moscow was ready to use nuclear weapons.
Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America program at the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Wilson Center, told the Associated Press that “the warships are a reminder to Washington that it is unpleasant when an adversary meddles. in your [neighbourhood].”
The naval display is also intended to reassure Moscow’s Latin American allies – Cuba and Venezuela – of its continued support for them against Washington, some experts said.
Like Russia and Cuba, economically devastated Venezuela has unpleasant relations with the US and is under US sanctions.
What ships has Russia deployed and to what extent do they pose a threat?
The Russian fleet includes four vehicles in total.
- Admiral Gorshkov: is the lead ship of the convoy. The frigate – that is, a warship that is light to drive and easy to maneuver – is one of the most modern models of the Russian navy. It is capable of long-range missile attacks and anti-submarine warfare, although it is difficult to detect with radars due to the use of stealth technology. The ship is equipped with Zircon hypersonic missiles, which Putin has said in the past can fly nine times faster than the speed of sound at a range of more than 1,000 km (more than 620 miles). She also carries Kalibr and Oniks cruise missiles.
- Kazan: is a nuclear-powered submarine and houses a nuclear reactor. It is also believed that the vehicle is equipped with missiles from the Kalibr and Oniks families.
- Pashin – the fleet’s tanker and a rescue tug – Nikolai Chiker – complete the convoy as support vehicles.
How did the US respond?
American officials are publicly downplaying the deployment and say it is part of the usual stopovers between Russia and Cuba.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday that such naval exercises were routine and that there were no signs that Moscow was transferring missiles to Havana.
Last July, the Perekop – a Russian training ship equipped with anti-aircraft weapons and a rocket launcher – paid a four-day visit to Havana and carried out “a series of activities”, according to Cuban authorities. The admiral himself visited in 2019.
“We’ve seen these kinds of things before and we expect to see these kinds of things again, and I’m not going to read into any specific motives,” Sullivan said, adding that the U.S. will remain vigilant.
The US mobilized ships and planes that monitored the movement of the fleet even before it arrived in Cuba and assessed that there were no nuclear weapons on board, officials said in statements to the US press, noting that the fleet remained in international waters the entire time. .
What are Cuba and Russia saying?
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that the fleet carried out exercises in the Atlantic en route to Cuba.
The Russian crew practiced using high-precision missile weapons with the help of computer-simulated enemy ship targets located at a distance of more than 600 km (more than 320 nautical miles), according to the ministry.
However, Itamaraty, before the arrival of the fleet, stressed that none of the warships would carry nuclear weapons and added that their presence “does not represent a threat to the region”.
“Visits by naval units from other countries are a historical practice of the revolutionary government with nations that maintain friendly and collaborative relations,” the ministry said in a statement.
Is this a repeat of 1962?
Both Russia and Cuba have long been united in their opposition to the US. During the Cold War, their ties deepened intensely, as the then Soviet Union became friends with the ideologically aligned Havana. Moscow provided financial aid, military equipment and naval training, increasing the country’s military power in the Caribbean.
Things came to a head in 1962, when Moscow transferred nuclear weapons to Cuba, provoking a response from the US, which imposed a naval blockade on Havana in response. This tense episode is now known as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
The fall of the Soviet Union caused Cuba to lose an important economic partner and fall into an economic depression. But in recent years, cooperation between countries has deepened again.
Analysts said this week’s naval display marked this intensification of the relationship, but noted that this does not necessarily mean a repeat of the events of 1962. Instead, Cuba, in particular, is once again drawn to Russia for economic reasons, rather than for ideology.
How have your economic ties deepened over the past year?
In the longest-lasting trade sanctions in modern history, the US has since 1958 banned American entities from trading with Cuba – following Fidel Castro’s overthrow of a US-backed government in Havana.
Although sanctions have been eased at different times, they have largely remained in place over the years. In 2015, US President Barack Obama decided to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba after 50 years, but his successor, Donald Trump, reversed course almost four years later.
This has contributed in part to an ongoing economic crisis in the Caribbean country – along with unstable government economic policies – analysts said.
“The blockade is qualified as a crime of genocide,” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said at a UN General Assembly meeting in November, referring to US sanctions.
The deterioration of public services, regular power cuts, food and fuel shortages and high inflation have pushed Cuba into its worst economic crisis in decades.
In recent years, Cuba has again turned to Russia with the aim of attracting foreign investors. The two countries last May began a series of economic partnerships, including one that will allow Russian companies to lease Cuban land for 30 years – an unusual move in a largely closed country.
Bilateral trade between Cuba and Russia reached 450 million dollars in 2022, three times more than in 2021, Russian officials said. About 90 percent of the trade comprised sales of petroleum products and soybean oil, as Russia pumps badly needed fuel into the country.
Ricardo Cabrigas, Cuba’s former foreign trade minister, told journalists on the sidelines of a business forum that welcomed Russian investors in Havana last May that economic ties between Russia and Cuba would only grow stronger.
“Nothing and no one can stop this,” Cabrigas said.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
