Russian warships of the Northern Fleet arrived at the port of the city La Guairaat Venezuelafor a stay of several days, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday.

The purpose of their presence in the region is to show the flag and ensure naval presence in important areas of operational action, the ministry said in a statement.

This intermediate stop will last a few days before the ships continue to carry out their “missions” in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, he clarified.

Among the ships are the Admiral Gorskov frigate, the most advanced frigate in the Russian fleet, which has been in service since 2018, as well as the Akademik Pachine tanker.

These ships anchored in La Guaira, near Caracas, according to the Russian announcement.

Russia and Venezuela have strong ties

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in February had called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin his “big brother”.

He had assured that Putin’s re-election, which had just been announced, was “a good omen for the world”.

And Nicolas Maduro is running for a new term in the July 28 presidential election.

The ships that arrived in Venezuela had already made a stop in Cuba in mid-June, accompanied by a nuclear-powered submarine and a tugboat.

They were therefore nearly 150 kilometers from American shores during the visit to this other major Russian ally, with tensions between Washington and Moscow at their highest over the conflict in Ukraine.

Shortly before entering the port of Havana, the ships had participated in an “exercise on the use of high-precision missile weapons,” according to the Russian Defense Ministry.