Putin’s hypersonic missile warship shows prominent ’Z’ symbol as it arrives in Cuba

12 June 2024 , 16:19

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This is Vladimir Putin’s newest frigate, Admiral Gorshkov ( Image: ErnestoDiaz/East2west News)

A four-strong naval flotilla, including a nuclear submarine amid high tension with the West, is being led by Warship Admiral Gorshkov, a hypersonic missile carrier

Vladimir Putin’s most modern frigate slunk into Havana, just 90 miles from the US coast to be given a 21-gun salute from the hardline Cuban authorities.

Warship Admiral Gorshkov, a hypersonic missile carrier, is leading a four-strong naval flotilla, including a nuclear submarine amid high tension with the West. 

Cuban officials denied that the modern warship and accompanying Kazan submarine were armed with nuclear missiles in the sabre-rattling visit this week.

However they are believed to be carrying hypersonic Zircon missiles, like Kalibr and Onyx missiles. The weapon was designed to arm Russian cruisers, frigates and submarines for use against both enemy ships and ground targets.

The US and Canada tracked Russian naval vessels and aircraft in the Atlantic and Caribbean. The Admiral Gorshkov displayed a huge Z - the sign of Putin’s war in Ukraine which has seen hundreds of thousands killed and maimed, and plunged the world closer to nuclear collision than any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Putin recently threatened to supply his most potent weapons to countries or regions close to his leading NATO enemies in what he sees as a tit-for-tat for the US, Britain and France supplying Ukraine with missiles for use by Ukraine on his territory. 

The flotilla which sailed to within 25 miles of the US coast is a sign of Kremlin fury over the scale of Western support for Ukraine. 

Accompanying the Admiral Gorshkov is nuclear submarine Kazan. Both vessels are a key part of Putin’s nuclear strike force. The other two Russian vessels are the oil tanker Pashin and the rescue tug Nikolay Chiker.

Admiral Gorshkov entered the port of Havana, Cuba today ( Image: 14ymedio/East2west News)

During war games in the Atlantic, the Admiral Gorshkov “defended Northern Fleet ships from air raids and anti-ship missiles of the conditional enemy”.

These exercises were conducted with the help of computer simulation, said the Russian defence ministry. Mock targets were hit with the Poliment-Redut SAM system, A-192M shipboard artillery system and Palash anti-aircraft system. It was previously announced the Russia vessels would be in Cuba until 17 June.

David Wilson