Might Russia Install Missiles in Cuba and Venezuela?
A Russian legislator puts the idea back on the table
Alexei Zhuravlev believes that this is the best way to respond to the West for assisting Ukraine in the war.
HAVANA TIMES – The first vice president of the Russian Defense Committee, Alexei Zhuravlev, proposed this Friday that the Kremlin place missiles in Cuba and Venezuela to “attack the United States.” It is not the first time that the Duma deputy suggests returning to the tension of the October Crisis in 1962, but this time he does so in relation to the aid that the West provides to Ukraine. “This would be an appropriate response,” he says.
In conversation with the Russian news media NEWS, Zhuravlev explained that Moscow’s response to Kiev “is already underway, and with considerable success; we are moving forward and we will continue to move forward until they understand that Ukraine must simply capitulate.” However, the deputy believes that a forceful warning to Ukraine’s allies is necessary.
“The answer can be the following: supply medium and short-range missiles to Venezuela and Cuba,” repeated the parliamentarian, whose vision of Moscow’s “partners” has the militaristic and utilitarian tang of relations with the disappeared USSR. The intention remains, however, to respond to the “Ukrainian attacks with British Storm Shadow long-range missiles on Russian territory.”
He also recalled that the United States gave Poland an anti-missile system and that the country, bordering Ukraine and Belarus, “can launch Tomahawk cruise missiles” that could easily reach Russian territory.
“Likewise, it is necessary to provide Venezuela and Cuba with similar means, such as air defense, with the capacity to launch missile attacks on the territory of the United States,” he reaffirmed.
Just a few days ago, U.S. President Joe Biden authorized Ukrainian forces to use long-range tactical missiles to attack Russian targets. In response, Moscow modified its military doctrine, which now contemplates the use of nuclear weapons in case of attacks that compromise the sovereignty of Russia and Belarus.
Zhuravlev is not the only one in favor of the militarization of Venezuela and Cuba by Russia. Last July, legislator Sergei Mironov, leader of the Just Russia coalition and close to Vladimir Putin, suggested a similar deployment. The politician, a member of the Lower House of Parliament, said that installing weapons on the Island is one of the Kremlin’s many options if it wants to respond to Western support for Ukraine.
Mironov explained that if Russia sends missiles to Cuba, it could give a signal to the United States, whose missiles were used in Ukrainian attacks against Russian targets in Crimea. “The possible use of a base in Cuba, which was recently visited by Russian ships transporting hypersonic weapons abroad, is just one of many options,” he said in a statement at the time.
Months earlier, in January, Zhuravlev had already made another of these proposals, which in that case involved nuclear weapons
Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, the Kremlin has revitalized some old alliances that have been on ice since the Soviet era. In Cuba, this relationship has included a series of military exchanges, as well as the visit of a Russian naval flotilla in June, headed by a nuclear-powered submarine.
When the Russian flotilla entered the capital’s pier at the beginning of June, the Kazan submarine and the Admiral Gorshkov frigate were carrying missiles of various types: Zircon hypersonic, Kalibr cruiser and Onyx anti-ship. On their way to Havana, the ships passed very close to Florida and carried out exercises with “high-precision missiles” in the Atlantic, which set off alarms in the United States, which also deployed a flotilla in the area and sent a nuclear-powered submarine to the naval base of Guantánamo.
Nor is Cuba conflicted about presenting itself to its allies as a key military point in the region. Last December, the Cuban Army allowed a reporter from the Russian channel Zvezda to record part of its underground arsenal that includes war tanks, missile launchers, Russian Ural-4320 trucks and Chinese Howo trucks.
Translated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba.