MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. Seven NATO naval ships were shadowing the group of Russia’s Northern Fleet warships led by the frigate Admiral Gorshkov when it called at Cuba in June, Pavel Konov, the frigate’s commander, said on Russian television.
"There were seven ships at most, while two Poseidon (P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine patrol aircraft - TASS) were constantly circling over the naval group. So, there were five US ships, one French [ship] and one Canadian," he said.
However, Konov said, the crews of the ships shadowing the Russian naval group were warning the Russian sailors about their actions.
"Nobody approached closer than 20 cable length (about 3.7 kilometers - TASS). Accordingly, if they scrambled a helicopter or reorganized, they always informed about it. The Americans by and large showed very good maritime training and culture. In general, they were not a problem along the escort route," the commander said.
A tactical surface action group, comprising the frigate Admiral Gorshkov and the Project 885M nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, tanker ship the Akademik Pashin and rescue tug The Nikolay Chiker, called at Cuba’s Havana port on an unofficial visit on June 12-17.
The frigate Admiral Gorshkov and the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan are the carriers of advanced precision-strike weapons, in particular, Tsirkon hypersonic missiles, Kalibr cruise missiles and Oniks anti-ship missiles.