Russian naval vessels including a warship and nuclear-powered submarine arrived in Cuba on June 12, on their way to conduct military exercises in the Caribbean.
The submarine Kazan and the Admiral Gorshkov frigate were accompanied by a tugboat and fuel ship, which were met with a cannon fire salute from the harbor.
Officials from both Cuba and the U.S. have said none of the vessels are carrying nuclear weapons, Reuters reports.
The Russian defense ministry said they had conducted training with "high-precision missile weapons" before arriving in Cuba.
The naval vessels have been closely tracked in recent days by the U.S. which said last week the exercise was likely an attempt by Russia to demonstrate it could still project naval strength globally in the wake of Ukraine's multiple successful strikes on Moscow's Black Sea Fleet.
The Ukrainian Navy claimed in March to have destroyed one-third of the fleet since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Speaking on June 12, White House National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the exercises were routine.
"We have seen this kind of thing before and we expect to see this kind of thing again, and I'm not going to read into it any particular motives," Sullivan said in comments reported by Reuters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 5 said Moscow could supply advanced weapons to certain regions to enable strikes against "sensitive" Western targets as a response if Ukraine strikes Russia with Western arms.
Chris York
(Updated: )
