Russia will send a naval detachment to Cuba next week for military exercises that are likely to exacerbate tensions with the US amid the war in Ukraine.
Cuba’s military said in a Friday press release that Russian warships would visit the port of Havana from Wednesday to June 17.
The visiting Russian detachment includes a frigate, a nuclear-powered submarine, an oil tanker and a tugboat, according to Cuba.
“This visit corresponds to the historic friendly relations between Cuba and the Russian Federation,” Cuban authorities said in the statement, adding that the visit follows international regulations. “None of the ships carry nuclear weapons, so their stopover in our country does not represent a threat to the region.”
The Russian naval group will also visit Venezuela and participate in military exercises, according to US officials who spoke to ABC News.
The deployment to the Caribbean is part of the Kremlin’s response to increasingly chilly tensions with the United States over the war in Ukraine, these officials said, but it is also a show of naval power after Ukrainian forces have repeatedly sunk Russian ships in the Caribbean. Black and forced them to the western part of these waters.
The upcoming naval deployment comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin told international journalists earlier this week that he was considering supplying weapons to nations hostile to the US and Western allies, after Washington gave Ukraine permission to attack Russia with weapons manufactured in the US to defend northeast Kharkiv. region.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
