This marks Moscow’s first coordinated air and sea operations in the Western Hemisphere in five years. The Biden administration interprets this move as a direct response to President Joe Biden’s recent authorization for Ukraine to use U.S. weapons against Russia, according to the Miami Herald, which first reported the story. An unnamed official who spoke with the outlet said the exercises are anticipated to include port calls by Russian vessels in Cuba and potentially Venezuela, both staunch allies of Moscow that have previously engaged in joint drills. The U.S. Navy has been monitoring the Russian fleet's movements closely, though Russia did not provide any prior notification of these exercises, according to officials who spoke with the Associated Press (AP). The officials said that the deployment is part of a broader Russian response to project global power after President Vladimir Putin warned of potential “asymmetrical steps” in response to Biden recently changing policy to allow Ukraine to strike Russia with U.S.-provided weapons. Ukrainian officials publicly admitted to using U.S. weapons this week to strike Russia’s Belgorod region, a mere 20 miles from their shared border. In response, Putin vowed to arm nations that could potentially threaten Western interests, further escalating global tensions. “If we see that these countries are being drawn into a war against the Russian Federation, then we reserve the right to act in the same way. In general, this is a path to very serious problems,” Putin said during an annual economic forum yesterday. The last Russian naval presence in the Caribbean was in 2019, when one of its most advanced warships, the Admiral Gorshkov, docked at a port in Havana, Cuba. The frigate was greeted with a 21-gun salute by Cuban forces. “We expect that, as is predictable, the Russians will amp up the information space with this, both to make a point and to unsettle us,” according to the official who spoke with the Herald. “We’re not particularly concerned. It’s something that they’ve done before. It’s messaging for the Russians.” The administration expects the maneuvers in the Caribbean to culminate in worldwide naval exercises this fall, which will include additional drills in the region, reported the Herald. “Their port calls in the Western Hemisphere are less frequent,” the official noted. “They’re less frequent, of course, because Russia has limited capacity for this kind of sustained power projection. And so that’s a factor. But this is something they’re doing, and clearly, they are unhappy — needless to say — with our support for Ukraine and support for our NATO allies.”In a display of military power, Russia is set to deploy aircraft and naval ships to the Caribbean for a series of military exercises within the coming weeks.
