Russian warships reach Cuba ahead of military exercises – just two weeks after Biden approved Ukraine using US weapons inside Russia – in ominous echo of the Cold War

Russian warships reached Cuba this week ahead of planned military exercises in echoes of the Cold War missile crisis.

The fleet, consisting of a frigate, a nuclear-powered submarine, an oil tanker and a rescue tug, crossed Havana Bay after exercises in the Atlantic Ocean.

U.S. officials expect the ships to remain in the region through the summer and may also make a stop in Venezuela.

Russia has long been an ally of Venezuela and Cuba, and its warships and aircraft have made regular forays into the Caribbean.

But the mission comes less than two weeks after President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia to protect Kharkov.

“The warships remind Washington that it is unpleasant to have an adversary meddling in your near abroad,” said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America Program at the Washington-based think tank Wilson Center.

Although the fleet includes a nuclear-powered submarine, a senior U.S. government official said the intelligence community has determined that no ship carries nuclear weapons.

Russian ships have docked in Havana on and off since 2008, when a group of Russian vessels entered Cuban waters in what state media described as the first such visit in nearly two decades.

In 2015, a reconnaissance and communications ship arrived unannounced in Havana, a day before the start of talks between US and Cuban officials on the reopening of diplomatic relations.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Russia’s port visits to Cuba are “routine naval visits.”