The Russian foreign ministry of Cuba stated on June 6 that Russian warships will be stationed in the Caribbean Sea starting next week.
Cuba's foreign ministry confirmed allegations citing anonymous U.S. officials, saying the four Russian military ships are not armed with nuclear weapons and would not pose a threat to the area.
“This visit corresponds to the historical friendly relations between Cuba and the Russian Federation and strictly adheres to the international regulations,” the communist country’s statement said, according to a translation. “None of the ships carry nuclear weapons, so their stopover in our country does not represent a threat to the region.”
According to the ministry's statement, Russian sailors would also engage in other "activities" and meet various Cuban government leaders and locations of "historical and cultural interest."
Regarding the upcoming visit, neither the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Ministry of Defense have made any public statements.
The declaration from Cuba was made just one day after reporters from multiple media sites were informed by an unidentified U.S. official that Russia intended to send battle vessels for naval drills into the Caribbean, including to its allies Venezuela and Cuba.
According to the Cuban announcement, the Russian ships are anticipated to arrive in Havana Harbor between June 12 and June 17.
Russia has already dispatched ships to the Caribbean, but this time it does so in response to the Kremlin's announcement on June 6 that Western countries providing Ukraine with weaponry to attack Russian territory will face consequences from Moscow.
Vladimir Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, stated that Western leaders must "reckon" with Russia and its "position."
“We won’t compromise our interests,” Mr. Peskov said.
When asked earlier on June 6 by reporters whether the Kremlin would name countries or regions to which Russia might supply arms in this way, he said no.
“It’s a very important statement that is very transparent that the supply of weapons that will be fired at us cannot go without consequences, and those consequences are certain to come,” he said.
His remarks came after Mr. Putin told an international conference of top news editors this week: “We are thinking that if someone thinks it is possible to supply such weapons to a war zone in order to strike at our territory and create problems for us, then why do we not have the right to supply our weapons of the same class to those regions of the world where there will be strikes on sensitive facilities of those countries that are doing this to Russia?
“So the response could be symmetrical. We will think about this.”
In May of this year, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told Reuters and other media sources that Ukraine was entitled to use UK-supplied weaponry to strike targets within Russia.
Tensions between the US and Russia are still high in the meantime. Referring to the Russian president as "a dictator" who is "struggling to make sure he holds his country together while still keeping this assault going," President Joe Biden blasted him during remarks on June 6.
“We’re not talking about giving [Ukraine] weapons to strike Moscow, to strike the Kremlin, to strike … it’s just across the border, where they’re receiving significant fire from conventional weapons used by the Russians to go into … Ukraine, to kill the Ukrainians,” President Biden told ABC News on June 6.
Regarding weapons used by Ukraine, the president said that they are “authorized to be used in proximity to the border.”
“We’re not authorizing strikes 200 miles into Russia, we’re not authorizing strikes on Moscow, on the Kremlin,” he said.
In a post on Telegram on June 6, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and a former president who has become one of the Kremlin's most vocal hawks, provided more details on what Moscow was thinking about. He claimed that Mr. Putin's remarks represented "a very significant change" in Russian foreign policy.
“Let the United States and its allies now feel the direct use of Russian weapons by third parties,” he said, according to a translation. “These individuals or regions are deliberately not named, but they could be anyone who considers [the United States] and its comrades their enemies. Regardless of their political beliefs and international recognition.”
