FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

News

Meanwhile, Russia Has a Spy Ship in the Caribbean

In the Caribbean this week, the US Navy may be preparing to watch the Russian Navy watch the US Navy watch the Iranian Navy.
Photo by Cees Bustraan

A Russian spy ship docked in Havana last week, unleashing a flurry of feverish speculation among military and diplomatic observers. Set against the background of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, continuing unrest in Venezuela, and Russia's recent announcements of its plans to expand its global military presence, specialists have been asking themselves two very important questions about Russia's Cuba trip: “Why are they up to?” and “Do I care?”

Advertisement

The Russian ship, the Viktor Leonov, isn’t a warship. Built just before the fall of the Soviet Union, it's a signals-intelligence collection vessel — so it's tasked with a mission known as SIGINT among those who love jargon. The ship is designed and equipped to intercept communications and the electronic signatures emitted during the routine operation of radars, jammers, and other systems.

This is not a heavily armed ship. Sure, it sports some missiles and other weapons, but it’s an intelligence-gathering vessel. Intelligence-gathering vessels are lightly armed because it’s their job to collect intelligence, not shoot things. That's worth noting because some people have been hyperventilating at the prospect of Cuban Missile Crisis Part Deux, and they need to chill out.

That said, it would certainly be nice to know what exactly Viktor Leonov is doing tied up to a Cuban cruise-ship terminal. The Russian embassy in Cuba described the visit as a short, three-to-four-day social call, during which the ship will take on food and spread goodwill. Russia hasn’t said much about what the ship is expected to accomplish during its cruise, which isn’t exactly surprising for a spy mission. However, the presence of the Russian ship may be related to Iranian ships making their much-discussed inaugural Atlantic cruise.

On February 9, Iranian news agencies announced that the two ships, the Kharg and the Sabalan, had finally entered the Atlantic. Assuming they've been traveling at about 8 knots — they're not very fast ships — they'd be on schedule to enter the Caribbean right about now. Iran has announced their intention to do a bit of showboating on this cruise, and it wouldn’t be very surprising if the US Navy takes the opportunity to observe the hell out of them. This observation could involve the use of a lot of high-end US naval kit, like radars, which Russia in turn might want to observe themselves. A US intelligence collection effort might also result in a lot of chatter that the Viktor Leonov might be able to eavesdrop on.

So if the primary goal of the Viktor Leonov is to try and gather some intel on the US Navy, it raises the other question plaguing analysts: “Do I care?”

Probably not. Sending ships to tag along and listen in on operations is not particularly new or unusual. In fact, it tends to raise a lot of eyebrows if a navy gets bent out of shape when other countries snoop around their naval exercises. It might be an opportunity for the US Navy to watch the Russian Navy watching the US Navy watching the Iranian Navy. And then again, maybe not.

On a political level, the visit to Cuba is probably to reassure Cuba that Russia still loves it, even if Venezuela is coming apart at the seams. There might be a tenuous connection to other goings on — for instance, it could be a signal to the current Sandanista government in Nicaragua that it’s okay to get all misty and sentimental about the days of the Soviet Union. But so far, there’s no reason to think that this is something especially monumental.

So for now, the Russian Navy appears to be doing what most other visitors do in the Caribbean — chilling out.