Former KGB spy worries about Russian warships near Florida

A former KGB spy said this week he was “worried” about the arrival of Russian warships seen near Florida.

On Wednesday, Jack Barsky, a former KGB spy for Russia, appeared on NewsNation. The hill about Russian warships seen in recent days near the coasts of Florida and Cuba, saying: “Vladimir Putin is still using his own tricks. He likes to scare people.”

“With this kind of tension we have, there's always the possibility of an accidental launch,” Barsky said. “It worries me.”

“You have to be concerned about these kinds of things. You can't see this as just a routine exercise. You have to look at it in the context of Putin saying he's really fighting the West in Ukraine,” he said. -he adds. Barsky added while speaking on NewsNation.

Barsky's comments come shortly after several Russian warships were sighted near the coast of Florida, amid the ongoing war between Moscow and Ukraine. A Russian naval flotilla consisting of four ships, including the frigate Gorshkov and the nuclear-powered submarine Kazanentered the Caribbean on Wednesday en route to Cuba, just 90 miles from the coast of Florida, underscoring escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington over the war in Ukraine.

Moscow said the fleet was simply conducting routine military exercises with its allies in Havana.

A map from MarineTraffic, a website that tracks ships around the world, shows the Russian fleet's route through the Caribbean. According to the website's live tracker, the Russian rescue tug Nikolai Chiker was 26 nautical miles from Key Largo, Florida, Wednesday morning.

A State Department spokesperson said News week that the United States expects “increased naval and air activity near the United States” this summer.

“These actions will culminate in a Russian global naval exercise this fall,” the spokesperson said. “There could also be aircraft deployments or flights in the region. Russian deployments are part of routine naval activity and we are not concerned about Russian deployments, which pose no direct threat to states -United.”

News week contacted the State Department by email Thursday for further comment.

Since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine, the United States has continued to provide Kiev with military and economic assistance, drawing criticism from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier this week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned that Moscow could change its nuclear doctrine due to the West's “unacceptable actions and escalations.”

Putin also made similar comments last week, saying that Russia “carefully monitors what is happening in the world around us and does not rule out making changes to this doctrine.”

“This is also linked to nuclear weapons testing,” he added.