Three Russian Navy ships and a nuclear-powered submarine seem to be passing the Florida coast Tuesday, June 11, on the way to Cuba for a military exercise, according to open-source intelligence analysts on social media. A tweet on X, formerly known as Twitter, said that the US Coast Guard Cutter Stone may be shadowing the Russian flotilla off the east coast of Florida abeam of Cape Canaveral.
On Wednesday, June 5, a U.S. official told the media that Russia planned to conduct naval exercises with combat vessels in the Caribbean region. The United States did not see the expected arrival of the flotilla to the Western Hemisphere to be threatening, but the official told Reuters the U.S. Navy will monitor the exercises. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that had not been made public yet.
Cuba said in a release last week the ships carried no nuclear weapons and did not represent a threat.
"This visit corresponds to the historical friendly relations between Cuba and the Russian Federation and strictly adheres to the international regulations," Cuba's foreign ministry said in a statement.
However, the visit comes as tensions rise between the United States and Russia over U.S. support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian forces, U.S. officials told the media. It also comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia could provide long-range weapons to countries within range of Western targets in response to Western military support to Ukraine in the war that has lasted over two years.
Last month, President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to strike targets in Russia, a major shift in U.S. policy. On Friday, Biden publicly apologized to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for delays in U.S. military assistance and announced the U.S. was sending a $225 million package including what the Secretary of State's office described as "air defense interceptors, artillery systems and munitions, armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons, and other capabilities."
How many Russian ships and submarines are off the coast of Florida?
According to the Foreign Ministry in Havana, the Russian vessels visiting Cuba are the Admiral Gorshkovfrigate and support ships including the fleet oil tankerPashin, the rescue tugNikolay Chiker, and the nuclear-powered submarineKazan.
How long will the Russian ships and submarine be in the area?
The Russian ships are due to arrive on Wednesday, June 12, and stay for a week, according to the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.
The U.S. officials said they expected the Russian ships to remain in the region througout the summer, the Associated Press reported.
What will the Russian ships and submarine be doing while they're in the Caribbean?
"As part of Russia’s regular military exercises, we anticipate that this summer, Russia will conduct heightened naval and air activity near the United States. These actions will culminate in a global Russian naval exercise this fall," the U.S. official told reporters, according to Reuters.
"We are expecting that Russia will temporarily send combat naval vessels to the Caribbean region and these ships will likely conduct port calls in Cuba and possibly Venezuela. There may also be some aircraft deployments or flights in the region," he said.
The Cuban foreign minister said the Russian sailors would "follow a program of activities that includes courtesy visits to the head of the Revolutionary War Navy and the governor of Havana, and visit sites of historical and cultural interest."
Do the Russian ships and submarine off the coast of Florida have nuclear weapons?
"This visit, which is part of the historic friendly relations between Cuba and the Russian Federation, strictly adheres to the international conventions to which the State of Cuba is a party," the release from Cuba's Foreign Ministry said. "Since none of these ships carry nuclear weapons, their stopover in our country represents no threat to the region."
A U.S. official said the U.S. intelligence community did not believe the submarine, while nuclear-powered, was carrying nuclear weapons.
What is the U.S. doing about the Russian ships and submarine off the coast?
OSINT analysts have been posting updates showing multiple vessels in the area that could be shadowing the Russian ships. Some of the vessels names include the USSTruxtunand USSDonaldCookdestroyers, the Coast Guard's Cutter Stone and the Royal Canadian Navy frigateHMCS Ville de Quebec, with at least at least one U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon and Canadian CP-140 Aurora.
Has Russia sent ships this way before?
Naval exercises are common worldwide, and the official said the Biden administration was not concerned since Russia has sailed ships into the Western Hemisphere every year from 2013 to 2020.
However, the official also said Russian naval activity had increased after the U.S. showed support for Ukraine.
"This is about Russia showing that it's still capable of some level of global power projection," the official said.
In 2019, the U.S. military and Coast Guard tracked a Russian spy ship, identified as theViktor Leonov, as it operated off the coast from North Carolina to Florida. The Coast Guard issued a marine safety bulletin about the ship, which the agency said was operating in an "unsafe manner" by not responding to radio calls and running without lights.
The Viktor Leonov, whuch CNN reported is outfitted with high-tech spying equipment designed to intercept signals, has been spotted several times over the years, most recently off the coast of Hawaii.
Steve Holland, Reuters, contributed to this story.
