UK says three Russian submarines tracked during ‘covert’ operation | Technology News

Defence Minister John Healey said the covert month-long operation did not find evidence that Russian vessels had damaged undersea infrastructure.

British Defence Minister John Healey has said that it has tracked and deterred three Russian submarines in United Kingdom waters in the High North maritime region, which is home to key shipping routes and near crucial undersea cables.

Healey told a Downing Street news conference on Thursday that the covert month-long operation involving British warships and military aircraft did not find evidence that Russian vessels had damaged the undersea infrastructure.

Healey explained that the decision to reveal the operation was serving to “call out” Russian activity and send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I am making this statement to call out this Russian activity. And to President Putin, I say this: we see you, we see your activity over our cables and pipelines. And you should know that any attempt to damage them will not be tolerated, and will have serious consequences,” he said.

Healey explained that armed forces had been deployed “to track and to deter any malign activity by these vessels”, adding that Putin’s purpose was “secret operations that remain undetected over our critical infrastructure”.

“We’ve exposed those covert operations. We’ve made clear to him and his submarines that we’ve watched them every step of the way.”

According to the British Defence Ministry, London and its allies had tracked an Akula-class Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine and two specialist submarines from Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research (GUGI).

Defence experts have classed GUGI among Moscow’s most secret facilities, responsible for submarine ocean monitoring and atomic-powered, deep-water mini spy-subs.

The Russian embassy in London rejected the British government’s claims that its submarines posed a threat to undersea cables, state news agency TASS reported.

According to Healey, the Russian attack submarine was a “likely decoy to distract” from the two specialist vessels, which are “designed to survey underwater infrastructure during peacetime and sabotage it in conflict”.

They “spent time over critical infrastructure relevant to us and our allies in the North Atlantic”.

“We wanted to ensure that we could warn them that their covert operation had been exposed and reduce the risk that they may attempt any action that could damage our pipelines or our cables,” the defence secretary said.

Concerns about threats to undersea cables have grown since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The cables connect about 99 percent of global internet traffic, with the UK having 60 cables near its waters.

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting undersea cables.