US warship on humanitarian mission not aimed at Russia, Venezuela exercises

42 minutes ago

GEORGETOWN (AFP) — The six-nation medical mission of a US warship in the Caribbean is not a response to Russian military maneuvers due to take place off Venezuela later this month, the commander of the USS Kearsarge said here Tuesday.

"Yes, I am aware the Russians coming into this area, but that has nothing to do with this mission, there is no nexus between this mission and their arrival," Captain Fernandez Ponds told AFP.

The 844-foot long Kearsarge left its home port in Virginia in early August and is now in Guyana providing medical and veterinary treatment, following similar exercises in Nicaragua, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Asked whether the vessel's visit was part of US foreign policy and public diplomacy efforts, Ponds emphasized that "my focus and my focus only is humanitarian assistance."

"What we are doing here is about goodwill, it is about helping people, nothing else, that's what this mission is about -- nothing else," said Ponds.

Russia's nuclear-powered missile cruiser, the Northern Fleet flagship, Pyotr Velikiy, along with an anti-submarine ship Admiral Chabanenko, and support vessels will visit Caracas in November for international exercises, including joint drills with the Venezuelan Navy in Venezuelan and international waters.