Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major confrontation between the United States and Russia over Soviet-supplied missile installations in Cuba. The background to the crisis was Russia’s military strength in Europe. At any time Russia would be able to take over Europe through the use of a surprise attack. The US, however, made an attack of this kind very difficult due to its development of the U2 reconnaissance plane which would give an indication of a Russian intention to attack. To counter the threat, in 1960 Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev launched plans to supply Cuba with ballistic missiles that would put the eastern United States within range of nuclear missile