On Wednesday, a Russian navy frigate and a nuclear-powered submarine arrived in Havana harbor, a visit that the US and Cuba both asserted posed no threat. However, it is widely viewed as a display of Russian strength amid escalating tensions over the Ukraine conflict.
Under grey skies, curious onlookers, fishermen, and police gathered along the Malecon seafront boulevard to watch the ships pass the 400-year-old Morro castle at the harbor’s entrance. Cuba, a longstanding ally of Russia, welcomed the vessels with cannon fire, while Russian diplomats waved small Russian flags and took selfies as the ships navigated past the harbor’s historic fortresses.
The Admiral Gorshkov frigate, followed by the half-submerged nuclear-powered submarine Kazan with its crew on deck, arrived accompanied by a tugboat and fuel ship that had docked earlier in the morning.
According to Russia’s defense ministry, the four Russian vessels sailed to Cuba after conducting “high-precision missile weapons” training in the Atlantic Ocean. The submarine and frigate are equipped with Zircon hypersonic missiles, Kalibr cruise missiles, and Onyx anti-ship missiles.
Cuba stated last week that the visit was standard practice for naval vessels from friendly nations and confirmed that the fleet carried no nuclear weapons, a point echoed by US officials.
While the US monitored the Russian vessels as they neared the Florida coast, officials, including White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, indicated that the ships posed no threat and that such naval exercises are routine. Sullivan assured that there was no evidence of Russia transferring missiles to Cuba but emphasized that the US would stay vigilant.
Havana, situated just 100 miles from Key West, Florida, which houses a US Naval Air Station, hosted the visit amid ongoing deliberations by the Biden administration on supporting Ukraine against Russia. William Leogrande, a professor at American University, suggested that the timing of the visit is a reminder from Putin to Biden that Moscow can challenge Washington within its own sphere of influence.
The stopover also comes as Cuba faces its worst social and economic crisis in decades, marked by severe shortages of food, medicine, fuel, and growing public discontent.
Leogrande noted that while this visit echoes the Cold War, Cuba’s current alignment with Moscow is driven by economic necessity rather than ideological affinity. The historical context looms large, with memories of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when the Soviet Union’s deployment of ballistic missiles to Cuba in response to US missiles in Turkey brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Once again, the two countries are strengthening their ties.
