Defence Secretary John Healey has revealed that a Royal Navy warship and aircraft tracked and monitored Russian submarines attempting to survey vital undersea infrastructure in the North Atlantic, forcing them to abandon their activity. Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Healey said the month-long operation involved a Royal Navy warship and a P8 marine patrol aircraft that “tracked and deterred any malign activity” by three Russian submarines.
The submarines included an Akula-class nuclear-powered vessel and two deep-sea submarines from Russia’s directorate for deep sea research (Gugi). Healey declined to specify the exact location but confirmed it occurred within the UK’s exclusive economic zone, which extends up to 200 nautical miles from the coastline. He emphasised that the Russian activity took place while global attention was focused on the Middle East due to the US-Israeli attack on Iran.
Healey stated: “I’m making this statement to call out this Russian activity, and to President Putin, I say: ‘We see you. We see your activity over our cables and our pipelines, and you should know that any attempt to damage them will not be tolerated and will have serious consequences.’” He added that there was no evidence of damage to cables or pipelines, but UK forces and allies would verify this.
Describing the operation, Healey said sonar buoys were dropped regularly to demonstrate that the submarines were being monitored 24/7. The Akula submarine subsequently retreated home, while the two Gugi submarines were monitored until they left UK waters and headed north. Healey noted that the operation highlighted why the government views Moscow as “the primary threat to the UK and to Nato”.
The Ministry of Defence stated that Gugi has specialist surface ships and submarines used to survey underwater infrastructure during peacetime, with the capability to damage or destroy vital links during conflict. Healey used the operation to argue for increased defence spending, asserting that the UK armed forces are capable of detecting, deterring, and responding to protect Britain’s undersea infrastructure.
