One of Russia’s most advanced warships is sailing around in the Caribbean, but it’s not alone. The frigate is accompanied by the multipurpose logistics vessel Elbrus, the sea tanker Kama, and the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker.
The Admiral Gorshkov, the first of a new class of Russian frigates built for power projection, arrived in Havana, Cuba on Monday.
The U.S. military said Wednesday that it is monitoring the Russian ship’s activities.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham was operating roughly 50 miles north of Havana as of Tuesday morning, USNI News reported, citing ship tracking data.
Admiral Gorshkov entered the Caribbean Sea via the Panama Canal on June 18. The ship departed its homeport of Severomorsk in February and has since traveled over 28,000 nautical miles, making stops in China, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Colombia, and now Cuba.
This Russian warship made headlines earlier this year when Russia reported that it was arming the vessel with a new weapon, the electro-optic Filin 5P-42, that emits an oscillating beam of high-intensity light designed to cause temporary blindness, disorientation, and even nausea.
Over the past decade, Russia has occasionally sent warships into the Caribbean. While these deployments are typically perceived as power plays, Russia characterizes them as routine.
Early June, a Russian destroyer nearly collided with a U.S. cruiser in the Pacific, an incident that came just a few days after a Russian fighter jet buzzed a Navy aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea.
National Interest / ABC Flash Point WW III News 2019.
Good for the global military balance?
They also visited Nicaragua and Venezuela.