Naval exercises spurred by US support for Ukraine are likely to include port calls in Cuba and Venezuela, says official

Russia plans to send combat vessels into the Caribbean region this summer as part of naval exercises that will probably include port calls in Cuba and possibly stops in Venezuela, a senior US official said on Wednesday.

“As part of Russia’s regular military exercises, we anticipate that this summer, Russia will conduct heightened naval and air activity near the United States. These actions will culminate in a global Russian naval exercise this fall,” the official said.

The US does not see the move involving a relatively small number of vessels and planes as threatening, but the US Navy will monitor the exercises, the official told a small group of reporters.

  • bassad@jlai.lu
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    7 months ago

    Europe confiscated their yachts so now oligarchs are using military ships to go on holidays?

  • ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Bold move to bring the rest of the Russian navy into striking distance of NATO defense forces during war with the signatories of the Budapest accords. Fucking idiot fell for his own bullshit.

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Hopefully there will be no “accidents”, but this is good news for Ukraine. As Ukraine has been putting more effort into disrupting logistics far behind Russian lines, Russia is helping out by wasting supplies in a futile attempt to act tough.

    • mean_bean279@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Their boats aren’t there yet. Russia’s track record isn’t the best regarding boats making it to their destination…

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      Eh. The Montreux Convention specifically prohibits them from bringing any military vessels into the Black Sea. That’s part of the Russian Navy’s problem right now: it is actually 100% against international law (as well as a very serious treaty violation made with a NATO country (Turkey)) for them to rotate and refresh their forces in the Black Sea.

      That’s why their ship losses are so strategically catastrophic, and that’s why they haven’t replaced anything. If they want any new ships in the Black Sea fleet, they’ve got to build them in the Black Sea for the duration of the Ukraine War. Not to mention, it’s pretty fucking embarrassing to lose as many capital ships as they have to a country that doesn’t currently have a navy.

      Also, I wouldn’t be super shocked if Ukrainians find some creative ways to disrupt, damage, or destroy Russia Navy vessels in various foreign ports of call :)

      Edit: lmao:

      The Biden administration did not view the deployment with alarm since Russia had sailed ships into the western hemisphere yearly from 2013 to 2020, the official said.

      “We should expect more of this activity going forward, although we note these deployments incur a cost on the Russian navy, which is struggling to maintain readiness and conduct deployments with an aged fleet,” the official said.

  • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.ca
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    7 months ago

    This is implying that they have regional power? They can barely hold onto Crimea now The Ukraine is off the leash and allowed to be more proactive in its defensive strategies.

    What ships are they going to send? The one’s that haven’t already been sunk by cheap off the shelf drones?

    • Maalus@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      It’s just Ukraine. “The Ukraine” makes it sound like a province. Ukraine makes it sound like a country. You don’t say “the France, the Germany” etc.

      • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.ca
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        7 months ago

        I always learned that it was the other way around, for precisely the same reason; Ukraine while it was a part of the Soviet Union. THE Ukraine after 1991.

        But I’m happy to be corrected. Thanks.

        • Maalus@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          “the Gambia” is literally their name, the Netherlands is plural and the United Kingdom is a collection of countries / provinces, just like the United States

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
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            7 months ago

            The Congo is quite common. Articles in front of country names are rare in English, actually quite common in e.g. German, and in any case neither of the two have anything to do with the v vs. na distinction in Russian. Which doesn’t even have articles those are prepositions.

            Seriously the “sounds like a province” thing doesn’t make a lick of sense in English. It’s not “The Massachusetts”, “The Ontario”, or “The Tasmania”. Gotta be some phonetic quirk that’s above my paygrade.

            • Takumidesh@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              That’s because the country’s name is The Democratic Republic of the Congo.

              I don’t know of any country whose name doesn’t officially include ‘The’ (such as The United States, or The United Kingdom, or the aforementioned Congo) and gets an article superficially added.

              The only reason I can think of for Ukraine is that it used to be part of another country and it’s just a holdover of when it was called ‘The Ukrainian Socialist Republic’

              As far as the presence of articles (or lack thereof) in Russian, I’m aware, but we aren’t talking about the Russian name of the country, so much as the English.

  • mlg@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I’m gonna be honest here, is there even any naval force besides the USN that could claim the ability to project power?

    • Russia’s carrier repeatedly caught fire
    • India left the door open on their brand new submarine
    • UK flopped a missile into the ocean
    • China pretends the SCS is the same size as the Pacific, and also allegedly had multiple nuclear sub accidents, which they cover up.
    • Davidchan@lemmynsfw.com
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      7 months ago

      I was gonna make fun of the French but then I remembered their nuclear doctrine is to lob a 250kt yield warhead as a warning shot.

    • CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      The UK and France have both joined the US navy in a few actions (Though of the two neither can really project carriers) Chinas navy is technically large but most of it is coastal waters only, That said they’ve conducted exercises around Taiwan so they can at least project some power.

  • zecg@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Project global power

    Hope they have aquatic cope cages to protect them

      • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        It’s not out of the realm of possibility. They’ve been fucking Russia up in Syria as well.

        • CptEnder@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Same with Sudan, who provides arms to Ukraine. So they sent special forces, DURING their own war, to aide the Sudanese govt against Wagner led rebels to retake one of their largest cities. Been fucking up unprepared Russian mercs there with drones and kicking in doors left and right. Way to honor their allies really.

    • Davidchan@lemmynsfw.com
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      7 months ago

      Weclome back Second Pacific Squadon. Think Japan will accept an invite by the US to run some exercises around Puerto Rico?

  • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Well, the navy has nothing to do outside the black sea and since they lost some crews there they need to start training.

    I just wonder what else they will be doing there. Cause Putin just declared he will start arming groups that fight NATO countries. So in the carribean you can arm drug cartels, contras and other insurgency groups and the US will need to deal with that. As it is a direct danger and it causes more instability, thus refugees to the US. Just in time for the elections in November.

    Also having a group of ships sail out also allows you to break some off to do other stuff and equip other groups. Rendezvous at sea and all.

  • collapse_already@lemmy.ml
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    7 months ago

    Just in time for hurricane season. Supposed to be a doozy this year. Will anyone rescue their poor sailors when the inevitable happens? Will we see an entire ship defect?

    • I'm back on my BS 🤪@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Fun fact: The Russian Revolution of 1917 went underway when the Russian Navy joined in. I believe it happened just after Bloody Sunday, but I can’t find it now. Anyone here remember what the catalyst was for the Russian Navy on some island to join the Russian Revolution?

  • Railcar8095@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    Good! A failed attempt to show off while weakening their forces in Ukraine

    • FleetingTit@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      They can’t send warships from the Black Sea to the Carribbean. No warships are allowed passage through the Bosphorus Strait.

      • Fugtig Fisk@feddit.dk
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        7 months ago

        But that is Turkey forbidding it correct ? They can change their mind if the wind blows east-south east of any other direction than up really

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    7 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Russia plans to send combat vessels into the Caribbean region this summer as part of naval exercises that will probably include port calls in Cuba and possibly stops in Venezuela, a senior US official said on Wednesday.

    These actions will culminate in a global Russian naval exercise this fall,” the official said.

    The official said Russian naval activity had ratcheted up because of US support for Ukraine.

    “This is about Russia showing that it’s still capable of some level of global power projection,” the official said.

    “We are expecting that Russia will temporarily send combat naval vessels to the Caribbean region and these ships will likely conduct port calls in Cuba and possibly Venezuela.

    The Biden administration did not view the deployment with alarm since Russia had sailed ships into the western hemisphere yearly from 2013 to 2020, the official said.


    The original article contains 310 words, the summary contains 141 words. Saved 55%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • athairmor@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Why? So the USA can get a better look at their lack of naval capability? To intimidate… I don’t know… summer yachting enthusiasts?

    • Forester@yiffit.net
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      7 months ago

      Well you see we haven’t given Ukraine icbms yet, so as long as the ships are outside the Black Sea they are safe.