Britain, Norway and other countries conducted a weekslong operation to deter Russian spy submarines near undersea cables in the North Atlantic, the UK defense chief said Thursday, accusing Moscow of using the distraction of the Iran war to ramp up malign activity against Europe.
Defense Secretary John Healey said a Royal Navy frigate, aircraft and hundreds of personnel were involved in tracking a Russian attack sub and two spy submarines operating north of the UK, and prevented the spy vessels from carrying out “nefarious” operations.
He said the Russian vessels eventually left after the operation that lasted more than a month.
The UK said other allies were also involved, but didn’t name them.
NATO countries have repeatedly expressed concern that Russia could use its fleet of spy ships to sabotage underwater cables on which global communications depend. Russia has dismissed those claims.
Healey said his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin was “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.”
Norwegian Defense Minister Tore Sandvik said in a statement that Russia’s operation occurred in and near Norwegian and British maritime areas in recent weeks.
Credit: cnn.com
