12:21 16-10-2025

Why Russian Missiles in Cuba No Longer Make Sense Today

Political analyst explains why stationing Russian missiles in Cuba or Venezuela would raise nuclear risks and no longer holds the Cold War significance it once had.

Political analyst Rostislav Ischenko explained why deploying Russian missile systems in Cuba or Venezuela would make little sense.

He said there is no reason to discuss such a possibility, since neither Cuba nor Venezuela intends to place Russian missiles on their territory.

According to Ischenko, while such a move would indeed bring the threat closer to U.S. territory and reduce the flight time of missiles, it would at the same time increase the risk for Russia itself. In that situation, the United States would have very little time to make a decision, and in the event of any unclear launch, Washington would not contact the Kremlin but would respond immediately with a massive nuclear strike on Russia. Such a scenario, he warned, would lower the threshold for the start of a nuclear war.

Ischenko added that the deployment of Russian missiles in Latin America would no longer carry the same significance it had during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. At that time, the Soviet Union had almost no delivery systems capable of reliably reaching U.S. territory. Intercontinental missiles did not yet exist, and aircraft could not guarantee either the delivery or the accuracy of a nuclear strike. Submarines faced similar limitations, as they were mostly equipped only with cruise missiles and a very small number of ballistic ones.

He also pointed out that Soviet submarines in those years had to reach launch positions near the American coast, which meant breaking through into the Atlantic and evading U.S. naval surveillance.

Thus, Ischenko explained, reaching U.S. territory in 1962 was extremely difficult, and Cuba served for the Soviet Union as an «unsinkable aircraft carrier," from which short-range missiles could cover the vital centers of America’s east coast. The west coast, however, remained almost beyond reach.

Today, he noted, Russia possesses intercontinental missiles with hypersonic warheads. Whereas previously the flight time of Russian missiles to U.S. territory was about 20 to 30 minutes, now it is only 10 to 15 minutes. Ischenko emphasized that the exact flight time no longer matters — what matters is that the missile reaches its target, and today that is practically guaranteed.

Russia, he said, has long been practicing strikes with intercontinental missiles, which remain its top strategic priority. Submarine forces have also made significant progress, and their strike capabilities have grown. Therefore, deploying missiles in the Western Hemisphere is no longer essential for Russia. In 1962, it was the only way to show the United States that it was vulnerable. Now, he concluded, the U.S. already knows that. Whether the missiles are closer or farther away makes no real difference — if they are launched and reach their targets in ten or thirty minutes, the result will be the same.