MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US submarine deployed to Guantanamo as Russian flotilla arrives in Cuba

Pentagon Spokeswoman Sabrina Singh insisted that the Russian mission did “not pose a threat to the US”

US authorities have ruled out that the presence of the nuclear-powered USS Helena submarine at the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba had anything to do with the presence of a Russian flotilla in Havana.

“The fast attack submarine USS Helena is in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as part of a routine port visit while transiting the US Southern Command's geographic area of responsibility as it conducts its global maritime security and homeland defense mission,” it was explained through a statement.

Pentagon Spokeswoman Sabrina Singh insisted that the Russian mission did “not pose a threat to the US.”

“The US Second Fleet, Fourth Fleet, Coast Guard Atlantic Area, and Joint Task Force Atlantic Canada are conducting routine operations throughout the Atlantic. But we will continue to monitor what is happening in the region,” she added.

A Russian convoy featuring the frigate Admiral Gorshkov carrying Tsirkons hypersonic missiles; the nuclear-powered Kazan submarine, and other support vessels arrived in Cuba on June 12 for joint activities with the local regime. Cuban sources insisted none of the Russian ships carried nuclear weapons.

Tensions between the US and Russia are believed to be mounting following Thursday's 10-year agreement between President Joseph Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky signed on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Italy for the continued supply of weaponry. Hence, the presence of Russian forces just 90 miles off the coast of Florida is not to be taken lightly, according to defense analysts.

The episode has been reported to rekindle the 1962 Missile Crisis, when the Cold War seemed to be about to move from its psychological phase to the feared belligerent one that never came.