by Ray Walser and Mackenzie Eaglen | The Heritage Foundation

Almost half a century after the Cuban missile crisis, the Russian navy is coming to the Americas. While the mood in Washington is far from panicked, neither is it mirthful. There is a sense of discomfort and dissatisfaction with the voyage of the Russian flotilla and concern about where U.S.-Russian and hemispheric relations are headed.

In the coming weeks, media attention will focus on the passage of the Russian squadron into Caribbean waters, where in November it will conduct joint exercises with the Venezuelan navy. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez extols growing military ties with Russia as a means to escape from under the thumb of U.S. hegemony and to build a multi-polar world. Subsequently, one can count on Chávez to maximize the publicity value of the Russian fleet’s presence in American waters and to continue flaunting his anti-American agenda and growing connections with Russia. Incidentally, state and municipal elections will take place on November 23 in Venezuela. For the Russians, the naval maneuvers appear to be a form of payback for U.S. support for the democratic nation of Georgia and for the presence of U.S. warships in the Black Sea.

Showing the Russian Flag (Again)

On September 22, four surface warships departed from Russia’s Northern Fleet home base in Severomorsk for the 15,000-mile journey to the warm waters of the Caribbean. The fleet is led by the nuclear-powered guided missile battle cruiser Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great).When fully armed, it is a formidable warship able to carry at least 400 missiles and anti-submarine warfare weapons, including 20 P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 “Shipwreck,” according to NATO), which are heavy supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles with a maximum range of 300 nautical miles. The SS-N-19 can be armed with either a 750-kilogram conventional or a 500-kiloton nuclear warhead. The battle cruiser can carry three helicopters and has an endurance of 60 days and a maximum speed of 32 knots.

Sailing with the battle cruiser is a destroyer, the Admiral Chabanenko, whose main armament consists of eight supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles of the P-270 Moskit (SS-N-22 “Sunburn”) type with ranges of approximately 120 kilometers and capable of carrying either conventional or nuclear warheads. [Read more →]

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Radio Netherlands examines Russian interest in restoring its military base in Cuba and the Cuban government’s lack of interest:

Cuba itself has already made it fairly clear that there’s no question of a renewed Russian military colonialism. The country is still sore at the fact that the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought an end to the liberal flow of funds from Moscow. And the leadership in Havana hasn’t forgotten that ten years later, without any consultation, Russia ended to its last military presence in Cuba: the vast intelligence base in Torrens, better known as “Lourdes”, from which legend has it a pin could be heard falling anywhere in the southern United States, and all US communications could be tapped.

The present Cuban leader Raúl Castro would also seem to have little to gain from Russian sabre-rattling over Cuba, particularly as he now seems to be taking cautious steps towards improving relations with the United States.

Quite apart from all the overblown talk surrounding Cuba, it’s plain that the Russian army is using the extra billions in revenue from oil and gas sales to bring its military hardware up to scratch. New nuclear weapons and nuclear submarines have been developed, and an order has just been made for twelve new aircraft carriers (albeit of a modest size and without the usual nuclear propulsion), and there are feverish attempts to lift the armed forces out of the mess into which the once so mighty Red Army descended after the fall of the Soviet Union.

From the perspective of military strategy, there is no sign that Moscow has the least interest in Latin America, other than for occasional arms sales to countries like Venezuela. Russia’s geopolitical priorities now lie in Asia, where it is seeking a strategic partnership with China and India, and was co-initiator of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a potential future counterpart to NATO. In contrast to the vague events now surrounding Cuba, in 2003 there was a military exercise to really set the alarm bells ringing. For the first time since 1991, Russian strategic bombers appeared above the Indian Ocean. The scenario of the exercise was plain enough: how to take out an entire US naval unit using nuclear cruise missiles. There’s nothing vague about that.

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RIA Novosti via BBC Monitoring:

Russia is resuming its presence in such an important geostrategic area as Cuba and Latin America, Andrey Klimov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told RIA-Novosti. He was speaking about the results of head of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev’s visit to Cuba.

Klimov believes that Russia is resuming collaboration with its good old partner. He added that “Cuba has a very important geostrategic situation”. He thinks it’s right that Russia as a major power should be present there in the spheres of economy and security. The Duma deputy did not rule out that Russian military presence on the island may also be considered. “Russia is quite likely to take a decision on military presence in Cuba in response to the deployment of American ABM systems next to the Russian border,” the deputy said.

However, according to another cable from Ria Novosti:

Cuban leadership has no intentions to resume military cooperation with Russia after a surprise closure of a Russian electronic listening post in Lourdes in 2001, a high-ranking Cuban diplomat said on Saturday.

After Russian Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin visited Cuba on July 30-31, the council issued a statement saying: “Russia and Cuba are set to make consistent efforts to restore longtime ties in all spheres of cooperation and to expand and strengthen them.”

“The Cuban leadership is ready to cooperate with Russia in civilian sectors but it is unlikely to revive bilateral military cooperation, especially after what happened with Lourdes,” the anonymous diplomatic source said.

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A loud call is being voiced to reactivating the Lourdes SIGINT station in Cuba.

“Cuba is a unique place to gather intelligence on the United States. I believe that the reopening of this station is both possible and necessary amid the threat that the Americans are creating for Russia,” –Alexander Pikayev, head of the disarmament and conflict resolution department at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ World Economics and International Relations Institute, told a news conference at RIA Novosti.

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via Bloomberg:

Russia may send military aircraft back to bases in Cuba in response to U.S. plans to deploy elements of a missile defense system in Europe, Izvestiya reported, citing an unidentified “highly placed source.”

Both the supersonic Tu-160, a nuclear bomber known as “White Swan,” and the strategic bomber Tu-95, known to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as the “Bear,” are capable of flying as far as Cuba, the paper said.

“There are such discussions, but they’re only discussions,” the paper cited a “highly placed” source on the staff of Russia’s long-distance strategic aviation command as saying. “I’m not going to say that there’s nothing behind” the talks.

Russian military-transport aircraft regularly fly to Cuba, the paper said, carrying out orders for private companies.

The European antiballistic-missile shield system consists of a radar system in Czech republic (agreement signed July 8th) and missile-interceptor bases in Poland.

In addition, the Izvestiya article further adds:

• A senior source in the strategic long-distance aviation headquarters said such talk is only talk;
• Russia is currently negotiating with Cuba to supply the island with Russian-made aircraft (2 Il-96 aircraft and 4 TU-204: 2 passenger and cargo 2);
• Infrastructure of the Port of Mariel is quite old, but still able to take ships.
• In the province of Pinar del Rio, where former Soviet troops were deployed — the military can be re-deployed there.
• Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, former Chief of Defense for International Cooperation and President of the Academy on Geopolitical Affairs stated: “I wouldn’t say Russian aircraft need Cuba as a permanent home. I know that strategic aviation airplanes were intermediate, landing at airfields in Cape Verde. For such a goal, Cuba can be used again, not as a permanent home - there’s no need for it - but as airfields and air refueling.”
• Ivashov further went on to say that Cuba would not object to expanding Lourdes base for radio intelligence or something else.

Click here to read the Izvestiya article.

[Photo of Tu-160 and Tu-95: Izvestiya]

Update 13:43 EDT: Russian Defence Ministry officials on Monday poured cold water on a newspaper report that suggested Moscow could use Cuba as a refuelling base for nuclear-capable bombers, Reuters reports.

Update July 22, 16:12 EDT: via Reuters: Russia would cross “a red line for the United States of America” if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba, a top US air force officer warned on Tuesday. “If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America,” said General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force’s chief of staff.

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