Cold war ghosts Why Russian warships are back in Havana

Where once vast American cruise ships 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," says Adolfo García, as he queues under the scouring sun. The Kazan is offlimits, but García is hoping for a tour of a second of the four Russian naval vessels that have just docked in the Cuban capital, the frigate Admiral Gorshkov.

The warships sent a cold war frisson when they arrived on Tuesday: a demonstration of Russia's ability to operate in the US's back yard just as the American president signs a 10-year security pact with Ukraine. "The Russians seem interested in sticking a finger in Joe Biden's eye," says William LeoGrande, a professor at American University, although comparisons to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis when the Soviet Union's attempt to place nuclear weapons in Cuba brought the world close to disaster - are "ludicrous", he adds.

The Cuban government says this is a friendly visit, that these ships carry no nuclear weapons, and "there is no threat to the region".

On an island growing increasingly cynical in the face of economic hardship, the queue to visit the Gorshkov seems a quaint distillation of the affection many Cubans feel for Russia, which goes back to the early days of the island's communist revolution. The Soviet Union was the Castros' staunchest supporter. Many Cubans, including García, were educated in the Soviet Union and many more speak Russian. "This visit is a symbol of the friendship of two nations," says José Rodríguez, an economist also waiting in the queue.