Nelson Acosta
HAVANA (Reuters) – Havana residents watched from the shore on Saturday as a Russian warship arrived in Cuba for the first time in two months, in a visit that Cuba has described as a routine event.
Cuban authorities fired shots into the air as a signal of welcome, and curious fishermen watched the ships sail through the bay from Havana’s waterfront promenade. Russian residents were among the few who woke up early to watch the flotilla arrive.
The Baltic Fleet’s patrol ship Neustrakhmy, training ship Smolny and support ships are scheduled to set sail on Tuesday.
A brief statement from the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces said their arrival was routine.
Russian nuclear submarines, frigates and support ships also flew into Havana harbor, less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Florida, in a show of Moscow power in June.
“Russian developments in the Atlantic do not pose a direct threat or concern to the United States,” a spokesman for US Northern Command said, adding that the command was monitoring all approaches to North America.
Tensions between the United States and Russia have risen since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and Russian naval activity, which is routine in the Atlantic, has increased in response to U.S. support for Ukraine, U.S. officials said.
At the same time, Cuba’s relations with Cold War ally Russia have improved significantly as the communist regime struggles with an economic crisis it blames primarily on U.S. sanctions.
High-level exchanges between the two countries have increased to levels not seen since the collapse of Cuba’s one-time backer, the Soviet Union, with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel visiting Moscow four times.
Russia has been pumping oil, flour and a growing number of tourists into the cash- and resource-starved Caribbean nation, where people have suffered daily power outages and other hardships, leading to sporadic protests and record migration.
Ana Garces, a 78-year-old retiree, told Reuters she remembers that the Soviet Union was the only country to help Cuba at the height of tensions with the United States during the 1962 missile crisis, when the world was on the brink of nuclear war.
“We’re so grateful,” she said. “Why wouldn’t we welcome it with open arms? It’s a friendship. All kinds of ships have come in here.”
“It shows how other countries are supporting us and it softens the way the world thinks about our country,” added her husband, Rolando Pérez, 71, a retiree.
