Canadian Foreign Minister says she was unaware of visit by a ship from that country to Cuba

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Mélanie Joly, stated that she was unaware of the reasons for the visit of the Canadian warship Margaret Brooke to Cuba, coinciding with the presence in Havana of a Russian fleet that includes a nuclear submarine.

The Canadian warship arrived in the island's capital on Friday, at the same time as Russian naval forces were staying in Cuba and a US nuclear submarine was located at the Guantanamo Naval Base in the east of the Caribbean country.

According to the Canadian government, the ship has gone to Havana for three days to supposedly celebrate bilateral relations between Cuba and Canada.

In an interview with the minister, the journalist asks her, "Why would Canada have a ship in a Cuban port at the same time as Russian military ships are there?" to which she responds that she was not aware of the situation.

This is something that I have to look much closer into. It is information that is new to me because the Minister of Defense also works with CAF and DND on this same issue; but of course, we will look into it and get back," he stated.

The HMCS Margaret Brooke, a ship of the Royal Canadian Navy, began its maneuvers early on Friday to enter the port of the Cuban capital. It had not visited the island since 2016 when it was in Havana during the week when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an official visit to Cuba.

The arrival of the ship coincides with a period of high military activity in the region and maximum tension due to the presence in the Cuban capital of the Russian nuclear submarine Kazan, the frigate "Admiral Gorshkov," the salvage tug Nikolai Chiker (SB-131), and the fleet oil tanker Pashin.

It also occurs after the United States announced that its nuclear submarine USS Helena had docked at the Guantanamo Naval Base, and after the White House said that together with Canada they would "closely monitor" the Russian naval fleet.

Russia described its movements in the Caribbean as routine and assured that they do not represent a threat to the region.