In the last few hours, the United States government deployed several warships and an underwater reconnaissance aircraft to track the course of the Russian fleet that is scheduled to arrive in Cuba this Wednesday.
The U.S. deployment includes two destroyers: the USS Truxtun and the USS Donald Cook, as well as a Coast Guard vessel, the Stone; and a Boeing P-8 maritime patrol aircraft.
Maritime and aerial tracking data reported by the American magazine Newsweek reveal that in addition to the U.S. vessels, the frigate of the Royal Canadian Navy Ville de Quebec is also present in the area.
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) analysts published updates on June 11 that also showed that, in addition to the deployment of American destroyers, the Canadian coast guard and frigate, there would be at least one Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft and a Canadian CP-140 Aurora, which seemed to be conducting surveillance operations.
Jesús Daniel Romero, a retired corvette captain from the United States Navy Intelligence, believes that, despite what the Biden administration says - which has downplayed the Russian visit to Cuba - the Russian deployment just 90 miles off the American coast is indeed concerning.
Romero believes that the presence of this Russian war naval deployment in the Caribbean should not be taken lightly.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) of Cuba announced last week the arrival in Havana, on an "official visit," of several ships from the Russian Navy, including a nuclear-powered submarine.
Between June 12 and 17, 2024, an official visit to the port of Havana will be carried out by a naval detachment from the Russian Federation, consisting of four ships: the frigate ‘Gorshkov’, the nuclear-powered submarine ‘Kazan’, the fleet tanker ‘Pashin’, and the salvage tugboat ‘Nikolai Chiker’, as announced by the MINREX last Thursday in a statement.
The official statement added that the visit is in line "with the historic friendly relations between Cuba and the Russian Federation," and that it "strictly adheres to the international regulations of which Cuba is a State party."
The MINREX clarified that none of the ships carry nuclear weapons and that their stop in the country does not pose a threat to the region.
Subsequently, the United States government said to be aware of the Russian combat vessels, which are expected to arrive in Cuba and the Caribbean for a military exercise.
The same source said that this summer Russia will carry out intense naval and air activity in the Caribbean, close to the United States, and that the actions will culminate in a global Russian naval exercise in the fall. However, the Biden administration said they did not view the deployment with alarm, as Russia has been sending ships to the Western Hemisphere annually from 2013 to 2020.
They point out that "Russia's deployments are part of routine naval activity," and that the US government is not concerned "as they do not pose a direct threat to the United States."
The Cuban-American senator Marco Rubio, for his part, asked President Joe Biden not to stand idly by and pointed out that there has not been a Russian submarine with nuclear-capable missiles operating in the Caribbean for over 30 years.
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