The Cuban dictatorship confirmed this Thursday (6) that a Russian naval detachment made up of three boats and a nuclear submarine will visit the port of Havana between the 12th and 17th of June.
The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the visit “corresponds to the historic friendly relations between Cuba and the Russian Federation and is strictly in accordance with international regulations” signed by Havana.
The note does not mention military exercises, contrary to recently published information from American sources, which indicated that Russian ships would travel to the Caribbean Sea to participate in maneuvers and that they could call at ports in Cuba and Venezuela.
“None of the ships carry nuclear weapons, which is why their stopover in our country does not represent a threat to the region”, claimed the Cuban Foreign Ministry, which stated that “visits by naval units from other countries are a historical practice” with nations with which the country maintains “friendly and collaborative relations”.
The vessels that make up the Russian naval detachment are, according to the statement, the frigate Gorshkov, the nuclear submarine Kazan, the fleet tanker Pashin and the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker.
The Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov, the lead ship of the Russian Navy’s latest generation of frigates, conducted an exercise in January 2023 to train launching Tsirkon hypersonic missiles into the Atlantic using a computer simulation.
In February 2023, it participated in joint exercises with South Africa and China, while last March it joined joint maneuvers carried out by the Navies of China, Iran and Russia in the Gulf of Oman.
In turn, the Kazan is a nuclear-powered submarine capable of firing cruise missiles that entered service in 2021.
The statement from the Cuban Foreign Ministry anticipated that, upon arriving at the port of Havana, on June 12, the frigate Gorshkov will fire 21 salvos “as a salute to the nation”, a gesture that will be replicated from the fortresses in the capital’s bay.
The note added that, during the Russian visit, the sailors will carry out a program of activities with courtesy visits and tours of historical and cultural interest.
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