Kazan submarine in Havana harbor
A Russian nuclear-powered submarine and other navy vessels landed in Cuba Wednesday for a five-day visit to the communist island off Florida’s coast, in a show of force amid rising US-Russian tensions.
The Kazan submarine, which Cuba claims does not carry nuclear weapons, was joined by the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, an oil tanker, and a salvage tug.
The Kazan and Admiral Gorshkov, the two of Russia’s most sophisticated warships, were sighted just off Havana, around 90 miles (145 km) from Florida’s coast.
The tanker Pashin and the tug entered the harbor early Wednesday morning, displaying Russia’s white, blue, and red tricolor.
The Cuban government announced that Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez was set to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, as the two former Cold War allies further strengthen their ties.
The unusual deployment of the Russian military so near to the United States, particularly the powerful submarine, coincides with high tensions over the war in Ukraine, where the Western-backed government is fighting a Russian invasion.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month for the annual May 9 military parade on Red Square outside the Kremlin.
Cuba was an important client state for the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The construction of Soviet nuclear missile sites on the island sparked the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, during which Washington and Moscow came dangerously close to war.
Since Diaz-Canel and Putin met in 2022, relations between Russia and Cuba have improved.
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