US sub makes ‘routine’ visit to Gitmo amid Russian fleet worries

The U.S. military made the rare move Thursday of announcing that an attack submarine was visiting the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a Russian flotilla conducts military exercises in the Caribbean.

In a statement, U.S. Southern Command said that the USS Helena, a Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine, would stop at the base for “a routine port visit as it transits the U.S. Southern Command geographic area of responsibility.”

The visit, Southern Command said, was “previously planned,” but it coincides with Wednesday’s arrival of a Russian nuclear submarine and several frigates to the port of Havana for an official port call. The Russian fleet, which sailed close to the Florida coast as it approached Havana, will also make stops in Venezuela and conduct military exercises in the Caribbean.

The U.S. and Canada monitored the fleet’s journey to the communist island, with both militaries deploying several ships and a reconnaissance plane to track them, CNN reported. National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One on Wednesday the visit is “something we watch closely, carefully” but noted that similar port calls have occurred in the past. He added there was no indication that the visit would see arms transfers between Cuba and Russia.

But the deployment has prompted outcries from Republicans, who say the Kremlin’s move shows that the Biden administration has a weak foreign policy. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has vowed to use “asymmetrical tactics against the West” in response to Washington and other allies’ decision to allow Kyiv to use Western-made munitions against targets in Russian territory.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Thursday on Fox News that “when you have a president who is weak, every bad guy on the globe is on the march and that is why we're seeing, for example, Russian ships off Cuba with hypersonic weapons testing missiles just 90 miles off the coast of Florida.”