Russian warships make routine visit to Cuba

By Nelson Acosta

HAVANA (Reuters) -Havana residents watched from shore on Saturday as Russian warships arrived for the second time in as many months, in a visit that Cuba called routine.

Cuban authorities fired shots into the air to signal their welcome, while curious fishermen watched from Havana's waterside promenade as the ships advanced up the bay. Russian residents were also among the few up early to see the fleet's arrival.

The patrol ship Neustrahimiy, training vessel Smolniy and support vessels, all from the Baltic Fleet, are scheduled to depart on Tuesday.

A brief statement by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces described their arrival as routine.

A Russian nuclear submarine, frigate and support ships in June also flexed Moscow's muscles in the port of Havana, less than 100 miles (160 km) from Florida.

"Russia's deployments in the Atlantic pose no direct threat or concern to the United States," a U.S. Northern Command spokesperson said, adding the command monitored all approaches to North America.

Tensions between the United States and Russia have increased since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and Russian naval activity - though routine in the Atlantic - has ratcheted up because of U.S. support for Ukraine, U.S. officials say.

Simultaneously, relations between Cold War allies Russia and Cuba have markedly improved as the Communist-run country battles an economic crisis it charges is due mainly to U.S. sanctions.

High-level contacts between the countries have increased to a level not seen since the fall of Cuba's former benefactor, the Soviet Union, with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel visiting Moscow four times.

Russia has sent oil, flour and increasing numbers of tourists to the Caribbean nation, which is short of cash and goods. Citizens suffer through daily power outages and other travails, resulting in scattered protests and record migration.

Ana Garces, a 78-year-old retiree, told Reuters she remembered the Soviet Union was the only country to help Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis, the peak of tensions with Washington when the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war.

"We are very grateful," she said. "Why should we not receive it with open arms? This is friendship. All kinds of ships have entered here."

"It shows how other countries do support us and takes away a little of the world's mentality about our country," added her husband, 71-year-old retiree Rolando Perez.

(Reporting by Nelson Acosta and Marc Frank; additional reporting by Reuters TV and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Diane Craft and Rod Nickel)