WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Navy submarine has arrived in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in a show of force as a fleet of Russian warships are gathering for planned military exercises in the Caribbean.
The U.S. Southern Command said the USS Helena, a nuclear fast-attack submarine, stopped in waters near the U.S. base in Cuba on Thursday, just a day after A Russian frigate, a nuclear-powered submarine, an oil tanker and a salvage tug sailed across Havana Bay after exercises in the Atlantic Ocean.
The stopover is part of a “routine port visit” as the submarine passes through the Southern Command region, he said in a social media post.
Other U.S. ships are also tracking and monitoring the Russian exercises, which Pentagon officials say do not pose a threat to the United States.
“It’s not a surprise. We’ve seen them make these types of stops before,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Wednesday when asked about the Russian exercises. “We of course take this seriously , but these exercises do not pose a threat to the United States.”
The exercises, however, took place less than two weeks after President Joe Biden. Ukraine is allowed to use weapons supplied by the United States strike inside Russia to protect Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. Russian President Vladimir Putin then suggested his military could respond with “asymmetric measures” elsewhere in the world.
Singh said it would not be surprising to see more Russian activity around the United States in such global exercises. The exercises are taking place in international waters, and U.S. officials expect Russian ships to remain in the region through the summer and perhaps also stop in Venezuela.
Russia is a longtime ally of Venezuela and Cuba, and its warships and aircraft periodically make forays into the Caribbean.
Russian ships have occasionally docked in Havana since 2008, when a group of Russian ships entered Cuban waters in what state media described as the first such visit in nearly two decades. In 2015, a reconnaissance and communications ship arrived unexpectedly in Havana a day before talks between U.S. and Cuban officials began on reopening diplomatic relations.