Russian warships bring cold war frisson to Havana

Where vast American cruise ships once disgorged mojito-thirsty holidaymakers into the crumbling streets of old Havana, now lurks the eerie darkness of the Russian nuclear-powered submarine Kazan.

- Ruaridh Nicoll

"It looks like a dead whale," said Adolfo García, as he queued under the scorching sun. The Kazan is off-limits, but García was hoping for a tour of the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, the second of the four Russian naval vessels that had just docked in the Cuban capital.

The warships sent a cold war frisson when they arrived shortly after sunrise on 11 June: a demonstration of Russia's ability to operate in America's backyard just two days before Joe Biden, the US president, signed a 10-year security pact with Ukraine.

"The Russians seem interested in sticking a finger in Joe Biden's eye," said William LeoGrande, a professor at American University, although he called comparisons to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis - when the Soviet Union's attempt to place nuclear weapons in Cuba brought the world to the edge of Armageddon - "ludicrous".

As Cuba's moribund economy fails to recover from the pandemic, beset by ageing infrastructure and the equally aged, if constantly rejuvenated, US embargo, a lack of fuel has resulted in power cuts across the island, leading to unrest.