Biden admin monitoring the 4 Russian warships off the coast of Cuba

The Biden administration is monitoring Four Russian warships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, are currently stationed just 200 miles off the coast of Florida as part of a planned military exercise. The fleet, which arrived in Havana Bay, Cuba on Wednesday, consists of a frigate, a Yasen-class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine, an oil tanker, and a rescue tug. 

On Wednesday, Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stated that the US is closely monitoring the Russian drills in the Atlantic, adding that there is no evidence of missile transfers from Russia to Cuba. 

"We have seen this kind of thing before and we expect to see this kind of thing again," Sullivan said to reporters on Air Force One. 

Speculation has risen that the naval deployment is a response to recent US actions, specifically allowing Ukraine to use American-made weapons within Russia to defend Ukraine’s second-largest city, as reported by the New York Post. 

The Yasen-class submarine, typically armed with hypersonic missiles, is currently confirmed by US and Cuban officials to be nuclear-powered but not carrying nuclear weapons. It remains unclear if the submarine is equipped with its usual hypersonic armament. 

Russian naval presence in Havana for military exercises has been a recurrent event since 2008, and Russia has continually docked naval ships in the Cuban city. 

In response to the military drill, two US destroyers and two ships that tow sonar equipment were shadowing the submarine, according to  CBS News. The US Navy also used small sailboats with cameras to shadow Russian ships as they arrived in Cuba. 

“The warships are a reminder to Washington that it is unpleasant when an adversary meddles in your near abroad,” said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America Program at the Wilson Center think tank. “It also reminds Russia’s friends in the region, including US antagonists Cuba and Venezuela, that Moscow is on their side.”