HAVANA (Reuters) – A Canadian Navy patrol ship sailed to Havana on Friday morning, just hours after the United States said a fast attack submarine had docked at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Island earlier this week.
The confluence of Russian, Canadian and American ships in Cuba, a communist-ruled island nation just 160 kilometers from Florida, served as a reminder of old Cold War tensions and the current uneasy relationship between Russia and Western countries surrounding Ukraine. War.
But both the United States and Cuba have said the Russian warships pose no threat to the region. Russia has also characterized the arrival of warships in its ally Cuba as routine.
The half-submerged Admiral Gorshkov frigate and nuclear-powered submarine Kazan with crew on deck sailed into Havana port on Wednesday after conducting ‘high-precision missile weapons’ exercises in the Atlantic.
Canada’s Margaret Brooke patrol ship began maneuvers to enter the port of Havana early Friday as part of what the Canadian Joint Operations Command called a “port visit in recognition of the long-standing bilateral relationship between Canada and Cuba.”
Hours earlier, the U.S. Southern Command said the fast attack submarine Helena had arrived for a routine port visit to Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base on the southeastern tip of the island about 500 miles (850 km) from Havana.
“The ship’s position and movements were previously planned,” Southern Command said.
The Canadian diplomat described the Margaret Brooke’s arrival as “routine and part of the long-standing cooperation between the two countries”, adding that it was “unrelated to the presence of the Russian vessel”.
Russia and Cuba were close allies during the former Soviet Union, and tensions with the United States over communism in America’s backyard peaked in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Warships this week.
Asked what signals Moscow had sent, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that when Russia sent signals through diplomatic channels, the West appeared to have paid no heed.
“When it comes to training or sea navigation, we immediately hear questions and a desire to know what these messages are,” Zakharova said. “Why are only signals related to our army and navy transmitted to the west?”
The Russian warship is expected to remain in Havana port until June 17.
