Russia plans to send warships into the Caribbean this summer as part of naval exercises that could include port calls in Cuba and possibly a stop in Venezuela, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.
“We expect Russia to intensify maritime and air activities near the United States this summer as part of Russia’s regular military exercises. These operations will culminate in Russia’s global naval exercises this fall,” the official said.
The official told a small group of reporters that the United States did not consider the move involving a relatively small number of ships and aircraft to be a threat, but that the U.S. Navy would oversee the exercises.
Tensions between the United States and Russia have increased since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The official said Russian naval activity has intensified due to U.S. support for Ukraine. “This shows that Russia is still capable of some degree of global power projection,” the official said.
U.S. officials briefed relevant lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the activity on Thursday, the official said.
The official said that these deployments are considered part of regular naval activities and “we are not worried about Russian deployments because Russian deployments do not pose a direct threat to the United States.”
“We expect that Russia will temporarily send combat naval vessels to the Caribbean, which may call at ports in Cuba and Venezuela. There may also be some aircraft deployment or flights in the region,” he said.
The official said the Biden administration was not alarmed by the deployment because Russia sent ships into the Western Hemisphere every year from 2013 to 2020.
“We should expect more such activity in the future, although we note the costs these deployments will impose on the Russian Navy, which is working hard to maintain readiness and deploy with an aging fleet,” the official said.
