Via: AFP:
Russia said on Monday it was sending a group of warships to Soviet-era ally Cuba in its latest defiant naval move around US waters, part of a drive to revive old Cold War ties with Latin America.
The warships will visit Havana on December 19-23, the navy said, continuing a tour that has already taken in US foes Venezuela and Nicaragua and seen the ships pass through the Panama Canal for the first time since World War II.
“This will be the first visit to Cuba by Russian warships since the Soviet era,” the Russian naval headquarters said in a statement.
The destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and two other ships already held exercises with Venezuela’s navy in the Caribbean Sea last month.
The naval manoeuvres close to US waters are seen as a riposte to Washington’s own moves in Russia’s Soviet-era sphere of influence, including in the Black Sea.
US officials have said they see no military threat from Russia’s naval manoeuvres but continue to keep a close eye on the situation.
The naval visit to Cuba, scene of a dramatic 1962 stand-off between Moscow and Washington over nuclear missiles, comes as tensions over US missile defence plans in eastern Europe have prompted talk of a renewed Cold War among some analysts.
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