Russian warships spotted near Florida arrive in Havana: video

Russian naval ships reached Cuban waters on Wednesday and docked in Havana port hours after a transatlantic crossing closely monitored by the United States and Canada.

Images released by the Russian Defense Ministry show the frigate Admiral Gorshkov and nuclear-powered submarine Kazan sailing in Havana Bay, about 100 miles south of Florida.

The fleet tanker Academic Pashin and the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker completed the Russian flotilla of the Northern Fleet, which is due to leave the Cuban capital on June 17.

Cuba's Foreign Ministry said the stopover reflected the country's “historically friendly relations” with Moscow and that it would welcome the Russian flagship with a 21-gun salute.

Cuba said the ships carried no nuclear weapons. THE Gorshkov and the Kazana Yasen-M class boat, are armed with Zircon hypersonic missiles and Kalibr cruise missiles, according to Russia.

Earlier this week, ships and aircraft from the U.S. and Canadian navies followed the Russian fleet as it crossed the Straits of Florida outside U.S. territorial waters.

Crossing the Atlantic, the Gorshkov and the Kazan carried out computer-simulated missile strikes on enemy ships hundreds of kilometers away, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

US defense officials said News week the flotilla posed no threat, although further military exercises are expected in the Caribbean, possibly with Venezuela.

Russian warships sailed to Cuba every year between 2013 and 2020. This latest visit comes amid ongoing tensions between Moscow and the West over the war in Ukraine. Less than two weeks ago, President Joe Biden allowed kyiv forces to strike inside Russia using weapons supplied by the United States.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his forces could respond by taking “asymmetric measures” elsewhere in the world, with the Kremlin signaling to its adversaries that it still has friends, including on America's doorstep.

On Wednesday in Moscow, Sergei Lavrov, Russia's top diplomat, received his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez and thanked the Cuban government for its position on Ukraine, calling it a conflict “prepared by the West for many years.”

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters that Biden will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Italy on June 13 on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Puglia. The two leaders will sign a bilateral security agreement to formalize long-term U.S. support for Ukraine, he said.

Also on Wednesday, Washington announced a new round of sanctions targeting Russia's war economy. The U.S. Treasury Department will punish any foreign bank that deals with sanctioned Russian entities, Sullivan said.