US sends destroyers to track Russian nuclear sub and warship carrying hypersonic weapons after flotilla passed 25 miles off America's coast towards Havana in chilling echo of Cuba Missile crisis
- US Northern Command deployed three destroyers and a recon plane to monitor
The US Navy dispatched ships and aircraft to track Russian warships that sailed just 25 miles off the South Florida coast yesterday en route to Cuba.
Vladimir Putin's most modern frigate Admiral Gorshkov, a hypersonic missile carrier, was accompanying nuclear submarine Kazan and two other naval vessels in the Atlantic for drills involving the use of high precision weapons, Russia's defence ministry said yesterday.
All four vessels arrive in Havana today ahead of a series of extensive aerial and naval exercises, according to the ministry - the first of their kind in five years in the Caribbean.
But their proximity to American shores prompted US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) to deploy three destroyers - USS Truxtun, USS Donald Cook and USS Delbert D. Black - and a submarine reconnaissance aircraft to keep tabs on the Russian vessels.
The Kremlin's decision to send its heavily armed flotilla so close to Florida is seen in the West as unnecessary power projection at a time of deep tension over Putin's war in Ukraine, with East-West relations at the lowest point since the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis.
Vladimir Putin 's most modern frigate Admiral Gorshkov, a hypersonic missile carrier, passed 25 miles off the coast of Florida (frigate pictured firing a hypersonic missile in a 2022 test)
Russia's Kazan Yasen-M submarine, part of the Northern Fleet, passed close by US shores
Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov is seen firing its weapons in a Russian naval drill
Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov in the exercise mode in the Atlantic at the end of May-early June 2024
A still image taken from a handout video made available on 11 June 2024 by the Russian Defence Ministry press-service shows Russian Navy's 'Admiral Gorshkov' frigate taking part in military drills in the Atlantic Ocean while en route to Cuba
A Boeing P-8 Poseidon was sent to monitor the waters off Florida and track the Russian flotilla
US Navy warship 'USS Donald Cook' was one of three American destroyers sent to tail the Russian vessels
Besides the three US destroyers, NORTHCOM also dispatched a Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, which OSINT analysts said last night was monitoring an area of sea roughly equidistant between the US and Bahamas - likely the location of Putin's warships.
Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec also joined the US flotilla in its tracking operation to ensure the Russian flotilla continued onto Cuba without issue.
Russia's defence ministry did not state what firepower the vessels were carrying, though Cuban officials denied the Russian vessels are carrying nuclear missiles.
Russian pro-war Telegram channels boasted that nuclear submarine Kazan has 'guided missile weapons' on board.
The Admiral Gorshkov meanwhile carries a battery of Putin's fearsome Zircon hypersonic missiles, and both vessels are seen as key players in Moscow's nuclear strike force.
The other two Russian vessels headed for Cuba are the tanker Pashin and the rescue tug Nikolay Chiker.
During the Russian war games in the Atlantic, the Admiral Gorshkov 'defended Northern Fleet ships from air raids and anti-ship missiles of the conditional enemy', the Russian defence ministry said,
These exercises were conducted with the help of computer simulation, as mock targets were hit with the Poliment-Redut SAM system, A-192M shipboard artillery system and Palash anti-aircraft system.
Russian press said that in passing so close to American shores, Putin's ships were simply 'giving the US a taste of its own medicine' as analysts pointed out that as many as 50 NATO ships are currently performing major exercises in the Baltic Sea as part of the BALTOPS 24 military drills.
Vladimir Putin 's most modern frigate Admiral Gorshkov (pictured), a hypersonic missile carrier, is accompanying nuclear submarine Kazan and two other naval vessels
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
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
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)
Russia and Cuba previously announced that Moscow's vessels would be conducting drills off the coast of Havana 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.
The crisis saw the American deployment of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear weapons in Cuba.
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.
