Russian military exercises in Cuba carry a message, not a threat to the United States (Wesley Clark)

(NewsNation) – Three Russian ships and a nuclear submarine have visited Cuba for military exercises, a demonstration that a retired general says is intended to send a message to the United States.

Officials of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, Russia’s ambassador to Cuba and a crowd of spectators gathered Tuesday to watch the Russian army’s spectacle in Havana’s port, the Miami Herald reported.

This comes just days after the United States told Ukraine it could use Western weapons within Russia’s borders.

The Pentagon apparently appears unaffected by the Russian deployments, saying it is routine naval activity and poses no threat to the country despite Cuba’s proximity to the U.S. southern border. .

“This is all part of a sort of hybrid, balanced war, showing the strength of Russia, showing that they can come into our backyard, so to speak,” retired Gen. Wesley Clark said Tuesday on “The Hill” from NewsNation.

Clark, a former NATO supreme commander, has been at the forefront of foreign military strategies for much of his career.

“I don’t think it’s anything that could escalate into violence. But is (Vladimir Putin) sending a message to the United States and the world? Of course,” Clark said.

The Russian government’s official news agency, TASS, said its Kazan nuclear submarine could quietly approach “the US coast within a radius of 50 km” to carry out “the combat missions assigned to it “, according to the head of the company that built the weapon.

The Miami Herald also cited open source data revealing the warships were just 26 nautical miles, or about 30 miles, from Key Largo, Florida, as of Tuesday morning.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that the government “will see how this plays out in the next few days, but we’ve had this kind of thing before.”

Four-star General Clark emphasized that while the ships pose no direct threat, there are many political alliances at work behind the scenes.

“Russia is a very close friend of Venezuelan President (Nicolas) Maduro. And Maduro is threatening Guyana,” Clark said. “And Guyana’s biggest resource is about 90 miles off the coast of Guyana, a big oil field.”

Clark pointed out that military broadcasts like these — intended to throw shade at the United States — help Putin distract from the war in Ukraine and other ongoing international issues.