Russian Warships To Arrive In Cuba On Official Visit

[Purveyor]

A Russian naval task force, led by the Moskva missile cruiser, will arrive Saturday on a five day official visit to Cuba, a spokesman for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet said.

The Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, is accompanied by Udaloy-class destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov from the Northern Fleet and the Ivan Bubnov tanker.

“The task force will call at the port of Havana on Saturday after a long trans-Atlantic voyage,” Capt. 1st Rank Vyacheslav Trukhachev said on Friday.

During the visit, the ships will be open for public access and their crews will participate in a number of cultural and sports events, the official said.

Western military experts believe that the visit signals Russia’s intention to rekindle military ties with its former Communist ally in the Caribbean.

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http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=114496

[RobertEarl]

1. Oh No! What will the teabaggers think and say?

Stay tuned.

[newfie11]

2. I hope this doesn't give any reason for us (america)to

start some type of false flag
Operation.

[Purveyor]

3. To busy arranging the one to use as the excuse to invade Iran. eom

[newfie11]

5. You do have a point

[mitchtv]

6. a homosexual scandal

would suit some of us. Come on Cuban gays ,snag an officer with info to embarass.

[Posteritatis]

10. I rather doubt the US is going to attack Russian shipping. (nt)

[dipsydoodle]

4. Its economic ties between the two which need rekindling.

The Russians may just want a sub base there. Be a good offset to the US bases in the former USSR states although they got notice of losing the one in Kyrgyzstan last month - ends next year

[hack89]

7. Cuba has nothing Russia needs or wants

Russia has so few operational modern submarines they need to keep them all in Russian waters. Their primary mission is protecting ballistic missile submarines.

[Purveyor]

17. True. Russia is too busy keeping the ISS in orbit and supplied as the USA lacks the capability to

do so...

[hack89]

18. What about Dragon and Cygnus?

and lets not forget a salient point - without US money there would not be a Russian space program. The US will have spent $60 billion to Russia's $12 billion by the time the program is over.

Their decline in military power has nothing to do with reallocating resources to non-military programs - it has everything to do with their lousy economy over the past several decades.

[Purveyor]

19. Then the US were suckers to subsidize and we got played, eh? Also, Russia's 'balance sheet' looks

pretty damned good compared ours...wouldn't you agree?

[hack89]

20. No - we weren't suckered if you think that international cooperation is a good thing

Especially when you realize what a pittance the US spends on space compared the rest of the Federal budget..

As to balance sheets, Russia is a poor country. Their drastic decline in military power and space activity are simply two examples. Without our subsidy there would be no Russian space program.

Getting back to the post I initially replied to, there is nothing Cuba has that Russia needs or wants. And Russia does not have enough modern submarines to be able to base any outside of home waters.

[TheMightyFavog]

8. I'm confused...

Wiki says there is no ship named Moskva in the Northern Fleet, and that the Northern Fleet's flagship is the Kirov class cruiser Pyotr Veliky

[Posteritatis]

9. The article pretty clearly says Moskva's from the Black Sea fleet (nt)

[TheMightyFavog]

15. *groans*

I need another beer.

[JVS]

13. The Black Sea isn't the area of the Northern Fleet.

The Northern Fleet is probably just the Baltic/White Sea (They have a canal to attach these seas) ships that also go into the North Atlantic.

The Black Sea Fleet is based in Southern Russia.

[JVS]

14. It's here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_Fleet#List_of_Black_Sea_Fleet_ships

[William769]

11. We should send an armada of ships flying this.

LONG MAY SHE WAVE

[morningfog]

12. Operation Move Snowden!

Lol.

[Purveyor]

16. Wouldn't that be something for the 'headlines'? LOL