“The visit corresponds to the historical friendly relations between Cuba and the Russian Federation,” a statement by Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces reads.
The ministry finds reasons to underline that “none of the ships carry nuclear weapons.”
Commenting on the statement, nuclear weapons expert Hans Kristensen writes on Twitter (X): “I wouldn’t expect them to but I wonder if the Cubans would be in a position to know.”
Kristensen is Director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists.
Unlike non-strategic U.S. navy submarines, Russia’s multi-purpose submarines currently have cruise missiles that can be armed with tactical nuclear warheads. Last time Moscow and Havana made joint plans involving nuclear weapons, tensions rose to near confrontation between the Soviet Union and USA. The Cuban missile crisis in October 1962 was resolved during some hectic days with hot-line talks between the White Hose and the Kremlin.
It was three weeks ago, on May 17th, the Northern Fleet detachment sailed out from the Kola Peninsula, heading for the North Atlantic. The three surface vessels in the group are the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, the oil tanker Pashin and the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker. Läs artikel