A U.S. fast-attack nuclear-powered submarine arrived at Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba, on Thursday, a day after a Russian navy fleet that also included a modern submarine pulled into the port of Havana ahead of Russian military exercises in the Caribbean that are raising tensions in the region.
The U.S. Southern Command, based in Doral, said in a statement that the USS Helena was in Guantanamo Bay, in eastern Cuba, where the U.S. has a base, as part of a “routine port visit.” The Southern Command noted that “the vessel’s location and transit were previously planned.”
One Southcom official told McClatchy that the Helena’s movements were scheduled before the United States learned of the Russian deployment plans. The Navy saw “no reason to alter previously planned, routine activity in response to Russian activity in the region,” the official said.
But the timing and optics of a U.S. nuclear submarine arriving in Cuba when Russian warships are in Havana are being seen as another effort to send a message of strength to the Kremlin.
U.S. Navy warships plan to follow the Russian naval flotilla visiting the region if it crosses the Caribbean and sails to Venezuela, as is expected, two U.S. officials told McClatchy and the Miami Herald.
The U.S. vessels — including three destroyers, a Coast Guard cutter and a maritime reconnaissance aircraft — have closely monitored the Russian fleet as it entered the Western Hemisphere and…
