Russian military drills in Cuba carry message, not threat for US: Wesley Clark

Russian military drills in Cuba message to US, world: Wesley Clark

Three Russian ships, one nuclear submarine near Cuba for military exercises
Just days after US allowed Ukraine to use western weapons in Russia
Retired general says Putin is sending a message, not a threat to US

Updated: Jun 12, 2024 / 05:21 PM CDT

(NewsNation) — Three Russian ships and one nuclear submarine headed to Cuba for military drills, a demonstration a retired general says is meant to send a message to the United States.

Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces officials, the Russian ambassador to Cuba and a crowd of onlookers gathered to watch the Russian military put on a show at the port of Havana on Tuesday, the Miami Herald reported.

This comes just days after the U.S. told Ukraine it could use Western weapons within Russia’s borders.

The Pentagon is seemingly unphased by Russia’s deployments, saying it is routine naval activity and poses no threat to the country despite Cuba’s close proximity to the U.S.’s southern border.

“It’s all part of a sort of hybrid warfare, balancing back and forth, showing Russia’s strength, showing that they can come into our backyard, so to speak,” retired Gen. Wesley Clark said on NewsNation’s “The Hill” Tuesday.

Clark, a former supreme NATO commander, had a front-row seat to foreign military strategies for much of his career.

“I don’t think it’s anything that will erupt in violence. But does [Vladimir Putin] send a message to the United States and the world? Sure,” Clark said.

Official Russian government news agency, TASS, said its Kazan nuclear submarine could quietly approach “U.S. shores within 50km” to carry out “assigned combat missions,” according to the head of the company who built the weapon.

The Miami Herald also cited open-source data revealing that the warships were just 26 nautical miles —around 30 miles — from Key Largo, Fla., on Tuesday morning.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters the government will “see how this unfolds in the coming days, but we have had this kind of thing before.”

Four-star general Clark emphasized that, while there’s no direct threat being imposed by the ships, there are plenty of political alliances at work behind the scenes.

“Russia’s very close friends with Venezuela’s president, [Nicolas] Maduro. And Maduro is threatening Guyana,” Clark said. “And the big resource in Guyana is about 90 miles off Guyana, a big oil field.”

Clark emphasized that military shows like these — meant to shadowbox with the United States — help Putin distract people from the war in Ukraine and other ongoing international issues.