Russia’s nuclear-powered submarine en route to Cuba amid growing tensions with US

Russian naval ships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, will arrive in Cuba next week, amid growing tensions with the US over the war in Ukraine.

Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces said the nuclear submarine Kazan and three other Russian naval vessels, including the missile frigate Admiral Gorshkov, an oil tanker and a salvage tug, will dock in the Cuban capital, Havana, between June 12 and June 17.

“None of the vessels is carrying nuclear weapons, so their stopover in our country does not represent a threat to the region,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The announcement came a day after US officials said Washington had been tracking Russian warships and aircraft that were expected to arrive in the Caribbean for military drills, which they described as part of a broader Russian response to the US support for Kiev.

The officials said the Russian military presence was notable, but not concerning.

The deployment of the Russian military so close to the US comes as Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow could take “asymmetrical steps” elsewhere in the world and supply arms to other countries to hit Western targets in response to President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use American munitions to strike inside Russian territory.

Putin warns Moscow could 'act the same way' after West let Ukraine strike inside Russia

Putin has warned that Moscow could supply arms to other countries to hit Western targets after the West let Ukraine strike inside Russia.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has also urged member states of the US-led alliance to reconsider restrictions attached to Ukraine’s use of Western arms to strike targets in Russia.

Stoltenberg said on Friday that Ukraine has the right according to international law to attack legitimate military targets in Russia to defend itself.

"Ukraine has the right to self-defense," Stoltenberg told a news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at a military base near Stockholm on Friday.

"The right to self-defense also includes the right to hit legitimate, military targets on the territory of the attacking party, the aggressor, in this case Russia,” he added.

Putin has said his forces launched a major operation against the Kharkiv region, which sits across the border from Belgorod, earlier last month in order to create a buffer zone to protect Russian frontier villages from Ukraine’s fatal attacks.

In February 2022, Russia launched what it called a special military operation in Ukraine partly to prevent NATO’s eastward expansion after warning that the military alliance was following an “aggressive line” against Moscow.

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