The British Ministry of Defense said that three Russian submarines were found in the North Atlantic Ocean involved in “malicious activities.”
Defense Secretary John Healey said on April 9 in a special press conference broadcast by BBC News that several weeks ago the British military and its NATO allies detected a Russian Shchuka-B-class nuclear submarine (NATO designation Akula class) in international waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. It quickly became clear that the submarine was “distracting attention” from two underwater vehicles of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research (GUGI) operating in the area.
The British Ministry of Defense claims that the submarines were involved in “malicious activity on critical underwater infrastructure”, without specifying exactly what it is talking about.
The British Ministry of Defense said that the British military explained to the Russians that they had been discovered, after which the submarines left this part of the North Atlantic.
Addressing Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Defense Minister said: “We see you, and we see your activity around our cables and pipelines.” “You should know that any attempt to cause harm will not go unpunished and will entail serious consequences.”
The Russian side did not comment on the British Ministry of Defense’s statement regarding submarine operations in the North Atlantic until the time of publishing the news.
The UK relies almost entirely on submarine cables to communicate with the outside world, transporting 99% of its internet traffic.
BBC Russian Service NotesThis is not the first time that Britain has accused Russia of carrying out operations against its marine cables. However, the Ministry of Defense indicated that the operation this time was longer and more secret. Healy noted that Russia had hoped that war in the Middle East would distract the British military from Russian submarine activities, but this calculation did not materialize.