Russian submarine deployment to Cuba worries Pentagon that Moscow will stalk US coasts
- A Russian nuclear-powered submarine and other naval vessels have arrived in Cuba, in a show of force amid spiralling US-Russian tensions
“There are elements of this one that are different, that are distinct,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One on Wednesday. “They have a submarine associated with this port visit that they have not had before.”
The first deployment of a nuclear submarine to Cuba since the end of the Cold War has served not only as a message to the Biden administration of Moscow’s displeasure with continued US support for Ukraine, but also of its increasing ability to stalk US coastlines with stealth submersibles – a growing concern for the US military, multiple officials familiar with the matter told McClatchy and the Miami Herald.
Just last month, the head of the US Northern Command warned Congress that Moscow could soon deploy 12 similarly advanced nuclear submarines split evenly between the Pacific and Atlantic, creating a “persistent conventional threat” to the United States.
“The threat will only become more acute later in the decade,” US Air Force General Gregory Guillot said, once the Yasen-class submarines are regularly armed with hypersonic missiles capable of travelling many times the speed of sound.
