More than 50 years on, tensions are rising again over Russian fears Trump's military might deploy nuclear missiles in Europe
PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin has said he is militarily ready for a Cuban Missile-style crisis if the US sparks one.
And the no-nonsense Russian leader believes his country currently has the edge when it comes to launching a first nuclear strike.
The Cuban crisis erupted in 1962 when Moscow responded to a US missile deployment in Turkey by sending ballistic missiles to Cuba - juts 90 miles from Florida.
The move, by then Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev, sparked a standoff which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
More than 50 years on, tensions are rising again over Kremlin fears Trump's military might deploy intermediate-range nukes in Europe, as a landmark Cold War-era arms-control treaty unravels.
Putin's comments, made to Russian media late on Wednesday, follow his warning that Moscow will match any US move to deploy new missiles closer to Russia by stationing its own missiles closer to the US or by deploying faster missiles or both.
Tensions have been further heightened after a Russian admiral claimed his "unstoppable" hypersonic missiles are capable of destroying US military command centres within five minutes.
Retired rear admiral Vsevolov Khmyrov claims nothing can stop the Zircon hypersonic missiles penetrating “any” defence system protecting the US mainland.
Fired at an estimated speed of 9 Mach (6,900mph), Zircon missiles will “ensure the capability to strike key control systems” and “command centres” in the US, he boasted.
Putin fleshed out his warning, saying Russia could deploy the hypersonic missiles on ships and submarines which could lurk outside US territorial waters.
"(We're talking about) naval delivery vehicles: submarines or surface ships. And we can put them, given the speed and range (of our missiles)... in neutral waters. Plus they are not stationary, they move and they will have to find them," Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript.
"You work it out. Mach nine (the speed of the missiles) and over 1,000 km (their range)."
The US State Department dismissed Putin's earlier warning as propaganda, saying it was designed to divert attention from what Washington alleges are Moscow's violations of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
The pact, which banned Russia and the United States from stationing short- and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe, is in its death throes, raising the prospect of a new arms race between Washington and Moscow.
Putin has said he does not want an arms race with the United States, but that he would have no choice but to act if Washington deployed new missiles in Europe, some of which he says would be able to strike Moscow within 10-12 minutes.
Putin said his naval response to such a move would mean Russia could strike the United States faster than US missiles deployed in Europe could hit Moscow because the flight time would be shorter.
"It (the calculation) would not be in their favour, at least as things stand today. That's for sure." he said.
Relations between Moscow and Washington were strained, he added, but the tensions were not comparable to those of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
"They (the tensions) are not a reason to ratchet up confrontation to the levels of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s. In any case that's not what we want," said Putin.
"If someone wants that, well OK they are welcome. I have set out today what that would mean. Let them count (the missile flight times)."
Separately, Washington said on Thursday that it was carrying out an observation flight over Russia under the Open Skies Treaty, the first one since 2017.
In a statement, the Pentagon said an unarmed OC-135B aircraft was being used and Russia was aware of the flight.
