World War 3: Putin re-opening Soviet military base in Cuba | Daily Star

Concern has been raised among the West that the plans are Russian retaliation after the US announced it was pulling out of the bilateral Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

According to The Jamestown Foundation – a Washington DC-based institute for research and analysis, founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors – the re-opening of the base would "duplicate rather than significantly add to Russian abilities to monitor US activities in the Caribbean".

But the think-tank warns: "If the Kremlin leader should decide to establish additional bases in Cuba, as some Russian commentators are now suggesting, that would be a different matter altogether—particularly if he succeeds in this goal."

THREAT: Putin could be re-opening several bases in Cuba (Pic: GETTY)

SOVIET: The base opened under the Soviet era and closes in 2002 (Pic: GETTY)

The move by Russian president Vladimir Putin comes with strengthening ties between Moscow and Havana.

Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel met with Putin in Moscow and said he wanted to give “a new impulse” to bilateral relations.

The leaders discussed matters such as healthcare and tourism, but also military cooperation as well.

The Jamestown Foundation added: "This led to speculation in both Russia and the West that this meant Moscow was about to reopen the Lourdes monitoring site that it closed 16 years ago, and possibly open additional bases on the island as well."

Related Articles

This was coupled with Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov, who oversees Russia’s military-industrial complex and military-technical relations with foreign countries, visiting Cuba.

The two countries agreed on contracts worth more than $265million in the military sphere alone, according to Russian paper Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

Russian military expert who served in Cuba in the 1980s, Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr Ovchinnikov, said “the deepening of cooperation between Moscow and Havana was entirely expected".

He added it is especially so given US President Donald Trump's threat to leave the INF treaty.

RESOURCES: Russia may not have the resources to develop 'major bases' (Pic: GETTY)

MISSILE CRISIS: The opening of bases in Cuba is more worrying because of history (Pic: GETTY)

But he stressed that the Kremlin may not have the resources to develop any "major military bases in Cuba".

The 1987 INF treaty means neither Russia nor the US is allowed to build ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500km (310 to 3,417miles).

But the US claims Russia has been violating the deal by building a new cruise missile.

And now it looks like the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) is caput, sparking fears of a new arms race between the superpowers.

The location of Putin opening bases on Cuba is especially alarming over the memory of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis in which the USSR was caught trying to ship nuclear missiles to Cuba - which is only 780km (484miles) from mainland America.

The incident is generally considered to be one of the most major crises in the Cold War and the closest that the two superpowers came to all-out nuclear war.

Related articles
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/742951/world-war-3-putin-soviet-military-base-cuba-donald-trump-usa-russia