A fleet of Russian warships has arrived in the bay of Havana, in a visit seen as a show of strength amid tensions with the west over support for Ukraine.
Four vessels, including the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan and the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, entered Havana Bay early on Wednesday, where they offered a 21-gun salute that was reciprocated from the battlements of La Cabaña, the fortress where Che Guevara once had his office.
En route to Cuba this week, the Gorshkov and the Kazan had conducted missile drills in the Atlantic, testing precision missiles at targets at a range of more than 600km (370 miles), according to Russia’s ministry of defence.
The ships were met by a sparse Cuban crowd on Havana’s famous corniche, the Malecón, but there was a strong showing from Russian diplomats and their families who waved Russian flags and shouted: “Russia! Russia!”
The visit was announced last week by Cuban officials who said that such visits from friendly countries were standard practice, that the Kazan carried no nuclear weapons and there was no threat to the region.
Havana is just 100 miles from Key West, Florida, and the timing of the visit suggests more than “standard practice”, said William Leogrande, a professor at American University.
“The visiting Russian warships are Putin’s wa
