The warships are expected to call at ports in Venezuela and Cuba. The planned exercises are “certainly” part of Russia's response to growing U.S. support for Ukraine, AP news agency reported, citing U.S. officials.
They said Moscow is thus trying to demonstrate that it is still a major military power amid escalating relations with the West, AP reported.
This does not worry the White House, as a “handful” of Russian ships and support vessels will take part in the exercises.
Washington last week authorized Ukrainian troops to use their missiles and artillery to strike Russian territory to defend its northeastern regions.
In response, Vladimir Putin promised an “asymmetric response” and action in other regions of the world that could threaten Russia's adversaries. The Kremlin dictator said Russia would supply its long-range weapons to forces that would strike those Western countries that gave such permission.
“If someone considers it possible to supply such weapons to a war zone to strike our territory and create problems for us, why don't we have the right to supply our weapons of the same class to those regions of the world where there will be strikes on sensitive facilities of those countries that do this against Russia?”, Putin said.
This is not the first time Russia has sent its ships to the Caribbean Sea. However, these exercises come amid Putin's statement that Moscow may take “asymmetric steps” in different parts of the world in response to Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to bash US weapons into Russian territory.
