LONDON – British Defense Minister John Healey disclosed Thursday that the United Kingdom sent military personnel to monitor and discourage Russian submarine activity near critical underwater infrastructure during a month-long presence in UK territorial waters earlier this year.
According to Healey, British forces worked alongside allies, including Norway, to observe and prevent harmful actions by the Russian naval vessels. The defense minister stated he was publicly revealing the military operation to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin understood their submarines had been discovered.
The defense minister confirmed the Russian submarines have since departed British waters, moving northward, with no evidence of harm to underwater infrastructure systems.
“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’,” Healey declared.
“Our armed forces left them in no doubt that they were being monitored, that their movements were not covert, as President Putin planned, and that their attempted secret operation had been exposed,” he added.
The British defense minister identified the Russian naval operation as involving one Akula class attack submarine along with two specialized vessels operated by Moscow’s Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research (GUGI).
