Without any senior Cuban official receiving its crew, the Russian warship Perekop dropped anchor this Tuesday morning in the port of Havana. The policemen, who moved restlessly around the pier and blocked access to the ship with their patrols, prevented the Cubans from approaching the mammoth hull of the ship, as this newspaper verified.
At the same time, the Cuban Foreign Ministry issued an official communiqué on the passage through the US naval base of Guantánamo, from July 5 to 8, of a nuclear-powered submarine as part of the US “provocative scale”.
“The presence there of a nuclear submarine at this time forces us to question what is the military reason for the event in this peaceful region of the world, against what objective it is directed and what strategic purpose it pursues,” argued the text that, however, abstained. to allude to the arrival, days later, of a military ship with a capacity for 500 Russian navy soldiers that arrived on the Island on the second anniversary of the massive protests of July 11, 2021.
The official press, which published the message from the Foreign Ministry on the front page, has been concise when reporting the arrival of the PerekopAccording to cubadebatethe crew was received by the Cuban captain José Luis Souto and the Russian ambassador in Cuba, Víctor Koronelli.
Miguel Díaz-Canel, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, and a senior official from the Armed Forces, whose head, Álvaro López Miera, recently visited, did not attend the simple ceremony – topped off by the firing of several salutes from the La Cabaña fortress. Moscow. In his “wide program” of activities will be a courtesy visit to the head of the Cuban Navy and the governor of Havana.
Cubans who wish to visit the deck of the Perekop They will be able to do so this Wednesday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Thursday, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
He Perekop – whose visit was announced by Marrero last June – belongs to the Baltic Fleet and usually travels with hundreds of cadets from the naval academies in the cities of Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok and Baltiysk. It is supposed to bring “a humanitarian cargo” to the island, according to official Russian media, but until now it has not been clarified what the aid consists of or why it is delivered.
Military collaboration between Havana and Moscow has developed in an atmosphere of secrecy. Although General López Miera has joined the caravan of high-ranking Cuban officials who have arrived at the Kremlin, little or nothing was known of his meeting with Sérguei Shoigu, his Russian counterpart.
It is expected that the senior staff of the Perekop spend several days in Havana as part of a “cultural and business” exchange process with the Island.
However, Cuba 21st century warned this Monday that the arrival of the ship hides “other interests”, the result of a collusion between the regime of Vladimir Putin and that of Havana. In a dossier signed by former Cuban general Rafael del Pino, the organization warns that it is Russia and not the US that intends to “provoke” military tension in Caribbean waters.
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