Havana, Cuba (CNN) � A group of Russian naval ships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, will visit Cuba next week as part of “historically friendly relations,� Cuba’s government said Friday.
The Russian “frigate Gorshkov, the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, the fleet oil tanker Pashin, and the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker� will visit the port of Havana between June 12 and 17, according to the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces in a statement published by the Foreign Ministry.
Cuba says none of the ships carry nuclear weapons and insists that their stopover does not represent a threat to the region.
“Visits by naval units from other countries are a historical practice of the revolutionary government with nations that maintain relations of friendship and collaboration,� the statement added.
Moscow has not confirmed the information provided by Cuba. CNN has reached out to the Russian government for comment.
It’s not the first time Russian navy ships have been sent to Cuba, a key ally to the former Soviet Union during the Cold War that briefly hosted nuclear missiles at Moscow’s behest during the 1962 .
Last July, the Russian navy’s training class ship for a four-day visit.
The latest visit appears to be the largest of its kind in years.
Cuba is increasingly reliant on Russian oil and aid as the communist-run country weathers its .
Cuba’s announcement comes days after US President Joe Biden gave Ukraine permission to carry out with American munitions. In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Western countries “supplying weapons to a conflict zone is always a bad thing.�
“In the end, if we see that these countries become involved in a war against us, what they are doing makes them directly involved in a war against the Russian Federation, we reserve the right to act the same way,� Putin said on Wednesday.
Putin added that as a response, “we will improve our air defense systems to destroy the missiles.� He also asked why Russia would “not have the right to supply our weapons of the same class to those regions of the world where there will be strikes on the sensitive facilities of those countries that are doing this against Russia?�
The-CNN-Wire
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