What happened to the Russian warships? Their whereabouts are unknown, but Russia is keeping America in its sights. The Russian flotilla split up upon its departure from Cuba. While the warships went south on Monday, the nuclear-powered Russian submarine Kazan was sent north along the coast of Florida. 

Three American warships and a Canadian frigate were stationed close to Miami, and a Canadian warship was this week off the coast of West Palm Beach, according to the Miami Herald. American and Canadian warships have been tracking the submarine’s movement, the U.S. Navy told Newsweek. 

Former government and intelligence community officials tell the Sun that the Russian submarine should not be a major cause for concern — at least not in the sense that Russia would launch a strike on American soil.

The Russian submarine, however, should raise alarm bells that Putin is taking a stroll around the Western hemisphere without consequence.

“Russia is attempting to show the world they have not been weakened by the war in Ukraine and they are still an international power,” the executive director of the Public Interest Fellowship, Garrett Exner, tells the Sun. 

Russia has suffered a high death toll in the war it started against Ukraine — some estimates reach as high as 500,000 killed and wounded — yet President Putin has not relented.

“Instead, Putin is doubling down this year, opening a new front in Ukraine, signing deals with North Korea, hosting Palestinian terrorists in Moscow, and conducting naval exercises in Cuba to show the world his country is still a world power,” Mr. Exner says.

Following those naval exercises, the next likely stop on the campaign to flex Russia’s naval power appears to be Venezuela, analysts told the Sun. It seems curious, then, that the Kazan submarine broke off from the pack.

“Strike groups don’t always stay together like this. They routinely break apart and rendezvous later for a different mission,” Mr. Exner, who served as a special operations officer in the Marine Corps, says. 

That leaves the door open for the submarine to circle back. Halfway between Florida and Venezuela would be Haiti — or perhaps Puerto Rico.

“This time, there’s a different element in the deployment of the Russian warships to Cuba,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is quoted by EuroNews as saying. “For the first time, they included a nuclear submarine, the Yasen-class Kazan.”

Images showing missing panels on the Kazan went viral on social media, though, leading to some speculation that the vessel was falling apart. 

“‘Russia’s newest nuclear submarine, the Kazan, falls apart visiting Cuba.’ Russian Navy = rusting bucket. Does it surprise you that the guy who recently ‘renovated’ the ship stole the money?” a correspondent for the Kyiv Post, Jason Smart, posted on X. 

The submarine might simply be in need of repair and require a shorter route back to Russia, Mr. Exner tells the Sun.

“I don’t think the submarine is falling apart,” Mr. Exner says. “Submarines have panels that are designed to absorb sound waves to make them less detectable. It’s likely a panel was damaged and the ability to replace it only exists in Russia.”

Some commentators quipped that the Russian submarine may even dock on American soil. “I say declaring an emergency and heading back to port a few hours away in Florida to defect is the best course of action,” a Ukrainian-American military blogger, Igor Sushko, posted on X. 

That possibility seems far from fathomable. “If the Russians refused to ask for help when a sub sank to the bottom of the ocean, they certainly won’t ask for help if one needs a small patch,” Mr. Exner says.

Even if the Russian fleet is struggling, America has not demonstrated a counter to President Putin’s submarine moving undisturbed near American shores. One possible response would be the development and deployment of a nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile, according to defense analysts.

“Neither China nor Russia would be certain of its presence, but they would be sure of” sea-launched nuclear cruise missile’s “capability to strike promptly and penetrate modern air defenses,” the director of the Keystone Defense Initiative at the Hudson Institute, Rebeccah Heinrichs, wrote.

Congress and the Biden administration have been arguing for years over the nuclear sea-launched missile program, which was proposed in 2018 under the Trump administration. In 2022, the Biden administration proposed canceling the program, but Congress rejected the move.

The Biden administration still opposes the sea-launched nuclear cruise missile project because it would “add to crisis instability” and trigger a negative response from Russia and Communist China, according to the director of the Arms Control Association, Daryl Kimball. 

“The ideal response would be military drills with a country like Georgia. Since Georgia lacks a decent port and is dealing with significant political turmoil right now, Finland would be the next best option,” Mr. Exner says. 

He adds that “having a carrier strike group make port visits to the newest member of NATO would cause significant heartburn for Russia.”