By NORA GÁMEZ TORRES and MICHAEL WILNER Miami Herald/TNS
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A group of Russian warships that sailed close to Florida shores, closely watched by U.S. destroyers, entered the port of Havana on Wednesday morning ahead of Russian military exercises in the Caribbean.

Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces officials, including the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Navy of Cuba, Capt. Jose Luis Souto Galindo, the Russian ambassador to Cuba Victor Koronelli and a crowd of Russian tourists and curious Cubans gathered at the Malecon, the famous Havana seaside promenade, to watch the Russian missile frigate Admiral Gorshkov enter the port amid a 21-gun salute.

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Early on Wednesday, the top of the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan was visible outside Havana’s harbor before it submerged again, Cuban independent media 14ymedio reported.

The official Russian government news agency Tass reported Wednesday that the Kazan, a modern nuclear submarine, is capable of “quietly approaching U.S. shores within 50 km (32 miles) and carrying out assigned combat missions,” according to Mikhail Budnichenko, the head of Sevmash, the company that built it.

Open-source satellite data placed the Russian warships just 26 nautical miles from Key Largo on Tuesday morning.

The presence of the Russian warships in Cuba just 90 miles from U.S. shores, is seen as a gesture of defiance by Vladimir Putin, who last week warned about taking “asymmetrical” steps and the possibility of sending long-range weapons to third countries to attack Western targets after President Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. government has not seen evidence that Russia is placing in or delivering missiles to Cuba.

“We have not seen anything like that,” he said.