LONDON: Britain said it had tracked and deterred three Russian submarines during a month-long “covert operation” in UK waters in the North Atlantic near vital undersea cables and pipelines.
British Defence Secretary John Healey said there was no evidence the vessels had damaged subsea infrastructure. He disclosed the joint mission with Norway and other allies to “call out this Russian activity” and send a message to President Vladimir Putin.“We see your activity over our cables and our pipelines and any attempt to damage them will not be tolerated and will have serious consequences,” he said. Healey said Britain deployed its armed forces “to track and deter any malign activity,” adding Russia’s aim involved “secret operations that remain undetected over critical infrastructure.”
Britain and its allies tracked an Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine and two specialist submarines from Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research (GUGI), known for deep-sea surveillance and spy subs. The attack submarine was described as a likely decoy, while the two specialist vessels were designed to survey underwater infrastructure in peacetime and sabotage it during conflict. “They spent time over critical infrastructure relevant to us and our allies,” Healey said, adding UK warships used sonar buoys to signal they were being monitored.“I’m confident we have no evidence that there has been any damage,” he said.
The mission involved around 500 British personnel, with aircraft flying over 450 hours and a navy frigate covering thousands of nautical miles.
Separately, Healey addressed criticism that Britain was not stopping Russia’s “shadow fleet” from passing through its waters, after a Russian frigate escorted a sanctioned tanker through UK waters without interference.
