The Admiral Gorshkov entered Havana this week (Picture: Reuters)
Vladimir Putin’s warships have stormed ashore Joe Biden’s doorstep, in what could be yet another step towards a global conflict.
It is a sight rekindling fears of the Cuban Missile Crisis – a fleet of Russian vessels reaching the Caribbean ahead of planned military drills.
It has been seen as yet another attempt by Russia’s president to flex his military muscles and gain further support for his war in Ukraine.
Four Russian vessels, including a nuclear submarine and a naval frigate, crossed the mouth of Havana Bay on Wednesday.
US officials said they do not see the move as threatening, but added that they will be monitoring the activity very closely.
Putin visited with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Moscow in early May (Picture: Shutterstock)
A nuclear-powered submarine also made the journey to Cuba (Picture: AFP)
US military expects said the exercises will involve a handful of Russian ships and support vessels, which may also stop in Venezuela.
Russia is a long-time ally of Venezuela and Cuba, and its warships and aircraft have periodically made forays into the Caribbean.
But this mission comes less than two weeks after Biden finally lifted an embargo for Ukraine to use US-provided weapons to strike inside Russia to protect Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
In response, Putin threatened that his military could respond with ‘asymmetrical steps’ elsewhere in the world.
Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America Programme at the Washington-based Wilson Centre think tank, said: ‘Most of all, the warships are a reminder to Washington that it is unpleasant when an adversary meddles in your near abroad.
‘It also reminds Russia’s friends in the region, including US antagonists Cuba and Venezuela, that Moscow is on their side.’
A senior US administration said Russia’s deployments ‘pose no direct threat to the United States’.
American officials last week said the Russian ships were expected to remain in the region through the summer.
Cubans posed with Russian flags on shore (Picture: EPA)
The Cuban Missile crisis in 1962 sparked fears of an all-out war (Picture: Shutterstock)
Russian ships have occasionally docked in Havana since 2008, when a group of Russian vessels entered Cuban waters in what state media described as the first such visit in almost two decades.
On Wednesday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov hosted his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez, for talks in Moscow.
Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Programme at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said: ‘While this is likely little more than provocation from Moscow, it sends a message about Russia’s ability to project power into the Western Hemisphere with the help of its allies, and it will certainly keep the US military on high alert while they are in theatre.’
The Cuban missile crisis in October 1962 has long been seen as the moment the world came closest to a nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union.
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