Russian warships are practising the use of high precision weapons in the Atlantic ocean, Russia‘s defence ministry said on Tuesday, putting the US on alert.
Vladimir Putin‘s most modern frigate Admiral Gorshkov, a hypersonic missile carrier, is accompanying nuclear submarine Kazan and two other naval vessels.
The drills involve hitting targets from a distance of more than 370 miles, Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement, and follow an exercise in anti-aircraft fire.
All four vessels are set to arrive in Havana on Wednesday and will pass 25 miles from the coast of the United States on their journey, according to reports.
The flotilla is seen as sabre rattling by the Russian dictator at a time of deep tension over his war against Ukraine, and is reminiscent of the days of the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis when the US faced off against Cuba and the USSR.
Russian warships are practising the use of high precision weapons in the Atlantic ocean, Russia ‘s defence ministry said on Tuesday, putting the US on alert. Pictured: Russia’s Kazan Yasen-M submarine, part of the Northern Fleet, which is in-bound for Cuba
Vladimir Putin ‘s most modern frigate Admiral Gorshkov (pictured), a hypersonic missile carrier, is accompanying nuclear submarine Kazan and two other naval vessels
A US Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft was highlighted by OSINT analysts monitoring an area of sea roughly equidistant between the US and Bahamas, likely the location of Putin’s warships.
Russian pro-war Telegram channels have boasted that nuclear submarine Kazan has ‘guided missile weapons’ on board as it passes close to the American coastline, around 25 miles east of Florida.
Cuban officials denied the Russian vessels are carrying nuclear missiles.
However, Putin recently threatened to supply his most potent weapons to countries or regions close to his NATO enemies in what he sees as a tit-for-tat for the US, Britain and France supplying Kyiv with missiles for use by Ukraine on his territory.
Despite this, both the Admiral Gorshkov and the Kazan are normally key vessels in Putin’s nuclear strike force.
Russia has not stated what firepower is being carried by his flotilla.
The other two vessels are the tanker Pashin and the rescue tug Nikolay Chiker.
Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov is seen firing its weapons in a Russian naval drill
A Russian sailor looks out of a window as the Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov first its weapons during a naval drill, in footage released by the Russian MoD
Footage shows a weapon being fired on the frigate Admiral Gorshkov in Russian naval drills
During war-games in the Atlantic the Admiral Gorshkov ‘defended Northern Fleet ships from air raids and anti-ship missiles of the conditional enemy’.
These exercises were conducted with the help of computer simulation, said the Russian defence ministry.
Mock targets were hit with the Poliment-Redut SAM system, A-192M shipboard artillery system and Palash anti-aircraft system.
Russia and Cuba previously announced the Russia vessels would be in Cuba from 12 to 17 June.
The two countries have shared close ties since the days of the Soviet Union, first establishing their diplomatic ties after the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
As communist states, Cuba and the USSR were seen as the antithesis to capitalist America at the time, when Washington and Moscow were engaged in the Cold War.
In 1961, the US led a failed attempt to invade Cuba and overthrow its government (known as the Bay of Pigs invasion) – deepening the rift further between the US, the USSR and the Cuban government.
Relations deteriorated further still during the Cuban missile crisis – a 13-day standoff between the US and the Soviet Union in October 1962.
The crisis saw the American deployment of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear weapons in Cuba.
A sailor is seen on the Admiral Gorshkov in the Russian naval drills
All four vessels are set to arrive in Havana on Wednesday and will pass 25 miles from the coast of the United States on their journey, according to reports. Pictured: A map released by OSINT analysts showing the suspect location of the Russian vessels as they passed between the United States (to the west) and the Bahamas (to the east)
The crisis is widely seen as the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-blown nuclear war, and perhaps the closest the world has come to total nuclear annihilation.
Since then, the relationship between the US and Cuba has softened.
Diplomatic relations, having been cut off in 1961, were restored for the first time on July 20, 2015, and each country has an embassy in their respective capitals.
The US continues to maintain a commercial, economic and financial embargo on Cuba, making it illegal for US corporations to do business with the country.