Governor Ron DeSantis stated that President Joe Biden's "weak posture" is responsible for the arrival of a Russian Navy flotilla - which includes a nuclear-powered submarine - at the port of Havana.
At a press conference on Friday, the governor of Florida described the Russian presence in Cuban waters as "worrisome" and "problematic," and stated that he would not allow it.
"We are failing as a country in terms of deterrence capability, and I believe it starts at the top with the President of the United States," he lamented.
"I believe history has shown that these bad actors respond to force and are deterred by force. They will not be deterred by weakness. They will not be deterred by confusion," he stated.
DeSantis concluded his opinion on the matter with a direct attack on Biden: "A president wandering aimlessly at the G7 will not dissuade them," in reference to the images of the Democratic president at the Group of Seven Summit held this week in Italy.
On Wednesday, June 12, a Russian naval task force arrived in Cuba, consisting of the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, the salvage tug Nikolai Chiker (SB-131), the fleet oil tanker Pashin, and the frigate Admiral Gorshkov.
According to El Nuevo Herald, a federal official told the editorial McClatchy and the Herald/Times that the Russian flotilla, on its approach to Havana, passed on Tuesday within 30 nautical miles of Cayo Largo, within international waters, but unusually close to the coasts of the United States.
The US Department of Defense stated that the Russian warships in Cuban waters do not pose a direct threat to the United States, and that the visit is part of routine Russian military exercises.
However, hours before the flotilla arrived in Havana, the United States government deployed several warships (two destroyers and a Coast Guard vessel) and an underwater reconnaissance aircraft to track the course of the flotilla.
According to the report by El Nuevo Herald, officials told McClatchy that they never lost track of the submarine on its journey to Cuba before it surfaced in the port of Havana.
In the same position as DeSantis, the Cuban-American senator Marco Rubio asked President 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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