Nuclear submarine and Russian ships in Cuba: Threat to the United States or propaganda?

Leading the flotilla, minutes before 8 in the morning he entered the bay of Havana the oil supply ship Akademik Pashinfollowed by the rescue tug Nikolai Chikerwhich is decorated with the white, blue and red stripes of the Russian flag, described the AFP agency.

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In addition to the aforementioned ships, the group of Russian Navy ships that arrived in Cubaand which are part of the Northern Fleetis made up of the frigate Admiral Gorshkovcarrier of long-range precision missiles.

It is also the Kazan nuclear-powered submarinewhich has been part of the fleet since 2021. Russia specified last week that this does not carry nuclear weapons and assured that the flotilla does not represent a threat to the region.

A Russian diplomat told CNN that as of Thursday “the general public” in Cuba you can tour the frigate Admiral Gorshkov for four hours a day.

The AFP agency highlighted that the arrival of this fleet occurs on the same day that Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met in Moscow, the Cuban Foreign Ministry reported.

Rodríguez expressed to Lavrov “his Government’s rejection of the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization towards the Russian border that led to the current conflict in Europe, and especially between Moscow and kyiv,” according to the statement.

Furthermore, the arrival of the flotilla It comes a month after the Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel wished Moscow success in the conflict with Ukraine, during a visit to Russia in which he accompanied the president Vladimir Putin during the commemorative parade of the Soviet victory against the Nazis in 1945.

A few days ago, the United States had denounced that this flotilla Russian will participate in air and naval military exercises in the Caribbean. However, the Cuban Foreign Ministry denied this and stated that it was a courtesy visit without military purposes.

“Between June 12 and 17, 2024, a naval detachment from the Russian Federation, composed of four ships, will make an official visit to the port of Havana: the frigate Gorshkovthe nuclear powered submarine Kazanthe tanker Pashin and the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker“said a statement from the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba published by the Foreign Ministry on June 6.

For its part, Moscow stated that this naval operation “corresponds to the historical friendly relations” and takes place within the “framework of international cooperation” that exists between both countries.

However, On its way to Cuba the flotilla did carry out military exercises in the Atlantic.

The United States Department of Defense claimed to be following the movements of the flotilla for days and told the EFE agency that does not perceive this Russian movement as a threat.

Despite this, several American warships were mobilized to closely follow the trajectory of the Russian flotilla, when the ships were closer to the coast of Florida.

The Defense Department believes that the Russian flotilla could also stop in Venezuelaanother old ally of Russia.

This mission comes less than two weeks after President Joe Biden would authorize Ukraine to use weapons provided by the United States to attack within Russia in order to protect Kharkiv, which led the president Vladimir Putin to suggest that his military could respond with “asymmetric steps” elsewhere in the world. Even He said it could provide weapons to the enemies of Western countries.

A propaganda maneuver

But what is Russia looking for with this maneuver?

Andrés Gómez de la Torrea specialist in Defense issues and former director of the National Intelligence School, maintains that This is a propaganda stunt. on the part of Russia and what it calls a kind of mini war escalation between the West and the Russians over the war in Ukraine.

“Although it sounds like a kind of reminiscence of the Cold War due to the missile crisis of 1962, where Cuba It was a clear indirect platform, a kind of soviet proxy to directly threaten the security interests of the United States, at this time The Russian flotilla is part of this chain of controlled mini-escalations between Russia, NATO and the United Statesin a context in which Western powers have already enabled Ukraine to use Western weapons in Russian territory,” says Gómez de la Torre in dialogue with Trade.

“On the other hand, It must be emphasized that this is what is called a propaganda movement, a psychological action, since it has become clear that the Russian flotilla does not carry nuclear weapons, and that is a clear indicator of the aforementioned. But also It must be noted that there is a kind of recomposition of the old strategic military alliance between Russia and Cuba which was very much in decline after the Cold War,” he adds.

For Gómez de la Torre, the big question is knowing how long the rope can be tightened, since these controlled mini climbs are proliferating. “When can the rope break and really lead to something much more serious? I think that The time will come when this type of escalation can no longer be controlled.”, he warns.

As to how you should take USA This maneuver, Gómez de la Torre recalled that the State Department has been clear in saying that the flotilla does not constitute a threat. “It must be noted that of the three branches of the Russian Armed Forces, the one with the least offensive capacity is the Navy, which is far below the capacity of the Army and the Air Force, in such a way that For the United States it is not a cause for concern, but it is an indicator of a recomposition of a system of strategic alliances left aside by Russia after the Cold Warhaving Cuba as a kind of proxy and spearhead that at another time could be part of the Russian strategy of generating security concerns for the United States,” he indicates.

They carried out maneuvers in the Atlantic

The former Minister of Defense of Russia and current secretary of the Security Council, Sergei Shoiguexplained that before arriving at Cuba the flotilla was doing naval exercises in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Russian state agency TASS reported that The crew of the frigate and the nuclear submarine practice the use of high-precision weapons through computer simulation against naval targets, designating simulated enemy ships located at a distance of more than 600 km.

“The heterogeneous tactical naval attack group of the Northern Fleet, consisting of the multipurpose nuclear-powered submarine project 885M Kazan and the frigate Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov, which performs long-range missions, has begun exercises on the use of high-precision missiles in the Atlantic Ocean. , TASS added.

The United States reported that its military forces were monitoring all these movements.

According to statements made to the Miami Herald By Pentagon officials, the US Navy deployed several warships and Air Force aircraft to follow the Russian flotilla.

The destroyers deployed by USA They are the USS Truxtun, the USS Donald Cook and the USS Delbert D. Black.

The US Navy It also deployed the Coast Guard Cutter Stone and a Boeing P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft.