A Russian navy frigate and a nuclear-powered submarine churned into Havana harbor on Wednesday, a stopover the U.S. and Cuba said posed no threat but which was widely seen as a Russian show of force as tensions rise over the Ukraine war.
Curious onlookers, fishermen and police lined the Malecon seafront boulevard under gray skies to welcome the ships as they passed the 400-year old Morro castle at the harbor’s entrance.
Cuba – a long-time ally of Russia – saluted the ships’ arrival with cannon fire from the harbor, while Russian diplomats waved small Russian flags and took selfies as the vessels passed the harbor’s historic fortresses.
The Admiral Gorshkov frigate, and later the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, half submerged with its crew on deck, were accompanied by a tugboat and fuel ship that had arrived earlier in the morning.
The four Russian vessels sailed to Cuba on Wednesday after conducting “high-precision missile weapons” training in the Atlantic Ocean, Russia’s defence ministry said Wednesday.
The submarine and frigate carry Zircon hypersonic missiles, Kalibr cruise missiles and Onyx anti-ship missiles, the ministry said.
Cuba said last week that the visit was standard practice by naval vessels from countries friendly to Havana. The communist-run government’s foreign ministry said the fleet carried no nuclear weapons, something echoed by U.S. officials.
Read more at Reuters.com
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