U.S. naval and air assets appear to be shadowing Russian warships that passed Florida's eastern coast on their way to make port in Cuba, open source maritime and aerial tracking data has revealed.
Open-source intelligence (OSINT) analysts on Tuesday posted updates showing the CG Stone coastguard vessel, the USS Truxtun and USS Donald Cook destroyers, and the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec travelling southwards down the Florida coast, purportedly following the Russian ships headed to Cuba. Above them, at least one U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon and Canadian CP-140 Aurora appeared to be conducting surveillance.
OSINT channel TheIntelFrog wrote on X (formerly Twitter) late on Monday that the American and Canadian assets "may be shadowing" the Russian flotilla.
That and other OSINT social media channels followed the progress of the shadowing vessels and aircraft through to Tuesday morning, passing north to south along the Miami coast. As of 6 a.m. ET, the CG Stone could be seen on the VesselFinder website around 25 miles east of Miami.
Newsweek has contacted the Pentagon by email to request comment.
A State Department spokesperson told Newsweek that the U.S. anticipates "heightened naval and air activity near the United States" this summer.
"These actions will culminate in a global Russian naval exercise this fall," the spokesperson added. "Russia will temporarily send combat naval vessels to the Caribbean region, and these ships will likely conduct port calls in Cuba and possibly Venezuela.
"There may also be some aircraft deployments or flights in the region. Russia's deployments are part of routine naval activity, and we are not concerned by Russia's deployments, which pose no direct threat to the United States."
Russia's four-ship grouping visiting Cuba is made up of the Gorshkov frigate, the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, the fleet oil tanker Pashin, and the rescue tug Nikolay Chiker, according to the Foreign Ministry in Havana.
A report by the Russian state-owned RIA Novosti news agency on Tuesday cited the commander-in-chief of Russia's naval forces as saying that the flotilla would arrive in Cuba on Wednesday.
The visit has been interpreted as part of Moscow's response to deeper NATO commitments to Ukraine—particularly the White House's approval for Ukrainian forces to use American weapons within Russian borders—though the Pentagon has said the visit poses no immediate threat.
"Russia is likely to send combat naval vessels to the Caribbean, with potential port calls in Cuba and possibly Venezuela," Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Charlie Dietz said last week. "Aircraft deployments or flights in the region are also anticipated. These deployments are part of Russia's routine naval operations and pose no direct threat to the United States."
Russian naval visits to Cuba are not unusual, having taken place every year between 2013 and 2020. Such operations "impose a significant cost on the Russian navy, which faces challenges in maintaining readiness and conducting deployments with an aging fleet," Dietz said.
"Given Russia's long history of Cuban port calls, these are considered routine naval visits, especially in the context of increased U.S. support to Ukraine and NATO exercises," he said.
President Vladimir Putin hinted at broad consequences for NATO nations that give Ukraine the green light to use Western weapons within Russian borders.
"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," the Russian leader said.
Moscow, he said, "will improve our air defense systems to destroy the missiles," and asked why Russia should "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?"
Update 6/11/24, 10:26 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
fairness meter
To Rate This Article
About the writer
David Brennan is Newsweek's Diplomatic Correspondent covering world politics and conflicts from London with a focus on NATO, the European ... Read more
