Russian warships headed to Caribbean for drills as tensions rise over Ukraine, US officials say
WASHINGTON — The US is monitoring Russian warships and aircraft expected to arrive in the Caribbean in coming weeks for a military exercise, in a Russian show of force as tensions rise over Western military support for Ukraine, US officials said on Wednesday.
The ships are also expected to make possible port calls in Venezuela and Cuba as Russia establishes a military presence in the Western Hemisphere that senior Biden administration officials said was notable but not concerning. The exercise, which will be monitored by the US military, will involve a “handful” of Russian ships and support ships, the two officials said.
It is not the first time that Russia has sent its ships to the Caribbean. However, this exercise takes place as a Russian president Vladimir Putin has proposed that Moscow could take “asymmetric steps” elsewhere in the world in response to the president Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons to attack inside Russia to protect Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
The officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to provide details that had not been publicly announced, said the exercise is “certainly” part of a broader Russian response to U.S. support for Ukraine, but that it is also an effort by Putin. to show that his navy is still capable of global power projection after losing several ships to Ukrainian attacks.
Ukrainian military officials said in March that Russia had done so lost a third of its Black Sea Fleet to the Ukrainian attacks during the past two years of war.
Russia has not informed the US of the upcoming exercise, but the ships’ movements have been monitored by the US Navy, the officials said.
Although Russia did not notify the U.S. — which countries often do to avoid miscalculations — the officials said militaries around the world have the right to conduct exercises in international waters and do so regularly. On Friday, for example, about twenty NATO countries, including the US, will begin BALTOPS 24, a major naval and air exercise in the Baltic region near Russia.
The officials said they expect the Russian ships to remain in the region through the summer and will likely conduct similar follow-up exercises in the Caribbean after they end.
The officials said Congress was briefed on Wednesday about the upcoming Russian exercises.