US estimates Zircon missile threat: '39 seconds and that's it'

Not that long ago it was rumoured that the president of Nicaragua signed a decree on the deployment of a Russian nuclear base near the borders of the United States.

Photo: Telegram: War sketches of XX-XXI centuries

A thorough check of the entire American and Spanish-speaking, especially Nicaraguan, press showed that there were no official documents that Daniel Ortega may have singed on the topic, MPSH authors wrote.

Experts believe that it was most likely an intentional leak to sound out a reaction.

The struggle between Russia and the United States in Ukraine reached the point where all means are good to contain the enemy. The North Korean authorities, for example, are confident that a nuclear war will definitely break out, whereas the Chinese leadership also calls on the PLA to prepare for a "colossal war."

Therefore, the rumour about the deployment of Russian missiles near key facilities and US territory was not just a matter of "much ado about nothing."

For these purposes, Russia can keep in mind:

• Africa
• Near East,
• South East Asia
• and particularly Latin America.

"The Americans have hundreds of army bases and various facilities outside the country, and no one is outraged about that. However, even a hint about the deployment of Russian cruise missiles in Latin America triggers massive hysteria in the United States,” the publication said.

In June 2022, a document was signed legalising the stay of "foreign ships and aircraft, including from Russia, Venezuela, Cuba and other countries of Central America" in Nicaragua.

US ships and planes were also allowed to visit Nicaragua, but US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, called Ortega's decree "a provocation."

It is not only Nicaragua, but also Cuba that worries the Americans. In April 2023, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that military cooperation with Cuba was "developing successfully, in accordance with agreements between the two sides.

US officials immediately concluded that "Lavrov did not deny that Russia had plans to deploy a new military base in Cuba."

The Americans were also quick to find out that Russia's state-of-the-art Zircon hypersonic missile was flying at a speed of 11,000 kilometres per hour, whereas the distance from Cuba to the United States was only 180 kilometres. It just so happens that striking any location in the United States with a Zircon missile was a matter of minutes. A Zircon would reach Washington in only 39 seconds, The National Interest said.

The United States is used to seeing this zone as a threat, and it is impossible to predict which missiles Russia is going to deploy in Cuba, Nicaragua, or maybe in Venezuela, The National Interest wrote.

Most likely, Russia will revisit Cuba as such a move will remind the Americans of the Caribbean crisis, when the United States learned to listen to USSR's arguments and vice versa.