On Friday, June 14th, a Canadian Navy patrol vessel sailed into Havana, Cuba, just hours after the United States announced that a fast-attack submarine had docked at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. Earlier this week, four Russian warships arrived in Cuba for a visit.
According to reports from Reuters, Russian, Canadian, and American warships converged near the communist-ruled island of Cuba, only 100 miles away from the coast of Florida, evoking memories of the tense Cold War era and highlighting the current tensions between Russia and Western countries over the issue in Ukraine.
The United States has been monitoring Russian ships sailing towards the coast of Florida. Both the United States and Cuba have stated that the presence of Russian warships in the region does not pose a threat. Russia views the visit of its warships to its ally Cuba as a routine matter.
The HMCS Margaret Brooke patrol vessel from Canada entered Havana port earlier on Friday as part of what the Canadian Joint Operations Command described as a “port visit… to underscore the long-standing bilateral relationship between Canada and Cuba.”
Just hours before, the U.S. Southern Command announced that the USS Helena fast-attack submarine had arrived at Guantanamo Bay for a routine port visit. Guantanamo Bay is a U.S. naval base located at the southeastern tip of Cuba, approximately 530 miles from Havana.
The Southern Command stated on the X platform that “the ship’s location and transit were pre-planned.”
A Canadian diplomat described the arrival of the HMCS Margaret Brooke as “routine and part of our long-standing cooperation between our two countries,” adding that it was “unrelated to the presence of Russian warships.”
Russia and Cuba were close allies under Soviet rule. Tensions between the former Soviet Union and the United States over communist issues in their “backyard” peaked during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the most dangerous confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war.
When asked about Moscow’s signals, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that when Russia sends signals through diplomatic channels, the West seems to never notice, only focusing on military information. Zakharova said, “Once it comes to exercises or sea voyages, we immediately hear questions and a desire to understand the content of this information. Why is it that only signals related to our military and navy reach the West?”
The Russian naval vessels include the Russian Navy frigate Admiral Gorshkov, the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, an oil tanker, and a rescue tugboat. The Russian flagship frigate, flying the flags of Russia and Cuba, received a 21-gun salute from Cuba upon its arrival in Havana on June 12th. As they approached the island, sailors in uniform were seen in military formation.
The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Russian warships were not carrying nuclear weapons and that their 5-day visit posed no threat to the region.
The Russian warships are expected to stay in Havana port until June 17th.