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“Russian warships arrived in Cuba after carrying out military exercises in the Atlantic. These are the frigate Admiral Gorshkov and the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan armed with hypersonic missiles. The United States said that they are carefully watching the deployment.”“Russian ships with hypersonic missiles arrive in Cuba, the United States says it observes “carefully” June 12, 2024 Voz de America https://archive.is/wzwgb

The Russian warships were 26 nautical miles from Key Largo on Tuesday morning, according to the Miami Herald, based on open-source satellite data. They also point out that a Zircon hypersonic missile “could hit the United States in seconds from Havana”. According to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, “the U.S. government has not seen evidence that Russia is placing in or delivering missiles to Cuba”. While Russian ships have been going to Cuba for years, this is the first time that it included a nuclear submarine. And, “last year Air Force Gen. Glen Van Herck, at the time the chief of the U.S. Northern Command, told Congress that the Russian deployment off the U.S. coasts of Yasen-class cruise-missile submarines like the Kazan is causing growing concern….” The US Navy deployed three destroyers, a Coast Guard cutter, as well as a maritime surveillance plane. See: “Russian warships, nuclear submarine enter Havana Harbor under watch of U.S. destroyers” By Nora Gamez Torres and Michael Wilner, June 12, 2024 01:33 PM, Miami Herald. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russian-warships-nuclear-submarine-enter-havana-harbor-under-watch-of-us-destroyers/ar-BB1o63In

According to CNN the “US Navy ships that have been tracking the Russian vessels include the USS Truxtun, the USS Donald Cook, and Coast Guard vessel the USCGC Stone….” They add that the “US has also deployed air assets, including a P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance plane, to circle overhead the Russian vessels. Canada has also deployed assets to monitor the activity, the official said…. the US has been monitoring the flotilla’s movements “the whole time…” See: “Russian ships arrive in Cuba as Cold War allies strengthen their ties” By Patrick Oppmann, AnneClaire Stapleton, Natasha Bertrand, Haley Britzky, Sergey Gudkov and Sophie Tanno, CNN Updated 12:34 PM EDT, Wed June 12, 2024 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/12/americas/russian-navy-cuba-intl/index.html

“Russian ships with hypersonic missiles arrive in Cuba, the United States says it observes “carefully” June 12, 2024 Voz de America (Based on original in Spanish)

Russian warships arrived in Cuba after carrying out military exercises in the Atlantic. These are the frigate Admiral Gorshkov and the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan armed with hypersonic missiles. The United States said that they are carefully watching the deployment.

Warships of the Russian Navy, including a frigate and a nuclear submarine, arrived at the port of the capital of Cuba on Wednesday after performing practice maneuvers in the Atlantic Ocean, exercises that were monitored by the United States.

The first two ships, an oil tanker and a tugboat, slowly crossed the mouth of the Bay of Havana early in the morning under a downpour. The boats sailed accompanied by guides, small boats that directed their advance through the narrow entrance channel.

Shortly after, they were followed by a frigate that was greeted by 21 cannon salvos fired by their Cuban military colleagues from the military fortress of La Cabaña. The boat painted gray entered the local rada with sailors dressed in gala and adorned with the flags of Russia and Cuba. Finally, the submarine entered.

The passage through Cuba of the fleet composed of the frigate Gorshkov, the nuclear submarine Kazan and two support ships – the oil tanker Pashin and the rescue tugboat Nikolai Chiker – had been confirmed by the Cuban Foreign Ministry last week in a statement, which indicated that the mooring would take place between June 12 and 17.

The White House National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, assured that they are “very attentively” watching the Russian naval deployment in Cuba.

“We will see how this develops in the coming days, but we have seen this type of movement before and we hope to see them again,” Sullivan told journalists on board the presidential plane, to whom he reminded that Russia has carried out this type of operation during the previous three administrations.

The adviser to Joe Biden acknowledged that it is the first time that a nuclear submarine is part of this type of Russian exercise in the port of Havana, just 150 kilometers [93 miles] from U.S. territory, but insisted that they monitor the situation closely.

The day before, the Russian Ministry of Defense indicated that the vessels belonging to the Northern Fleet were carrying out maneuvers in the Atlantic.

According to that agency, the frigate Gorshkov and the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan carried out the exercise, which was intended to simulate a missile attack against a group of enemy ships. The maneuvers consisted of an alleged attack against maritime targets located more than 600 kilometers away.

Last week, officials of US President Joe Biden’s administration said that they would closely follow the maneuvers in Caribbean international waters although they did not consider them to be offensive in nature.

Experts highlighted, meanwhile, the importance of the Russian naval visit in areas adjacent to the United States”.
(….)
“The arrival of the ships also occurs at a time when Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez is on an official visit to Moscow, where he met with his counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday. Russia and Cuba are strong ideological and economic allies.

Russian media indicated that Lavrov reaffirmed – during a press conference after the meeting with Rodríguez – Moscow’s intention to support Cuba in reaction to natural disasters, the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic from which it has not been able to recover, as well as the “drastically negative effect” of U.S. sanctions against the island.

DETAILS

Admiral Gorshkov is equipped with the new Zircon hypersonic missiles. The weapon has been designed to arm Russian cruisers, frigates and submarines, and could be used against both enemy ships and land-based targets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the Zircon as a powerful weapon capable of penetrating any existing missile defense by flying nine times faster than the speed of sound to a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers (more than 620 miles).

It is not the first time that Russia has sent its warships to the Caribbean, but this week’s visit comes after Putin’s warning that Moscow could supply weapons to the adversaries of the West in various parts of the world in response to the fact that Western allies of Ukraine declared that they will allow that country to use its weapons to attack targets in Russia.
[With Yeny García’s additional reporting and AP information] https://archive.is/wzwgb
NB: The section which directly quoted AP was removed and replaced with (…).
One would expect that US Senators Rubio or Cruz would make a useful statement about this, but they haven’t.