UK tracked Russia submarines in alleged Atlantic ‘covert’ operation: defence secretary

Britain said on Thursday it had tracked and deterred three Russian submarines on an alleged month-long “covert operation” in UK waters in the North Atlantic near vital undersea cables and pipelines.

Disclosing details of the joint mission with Norway and other unspecified allies, British Defence Secretary John Healey said there was no evidence the Russian vessels had damaged the subsea infrastructure.

Britain and its allies tracked an Akula-class Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine and two specialist submarines from Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research (GUGI), the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

“To President Putin, I say ‘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 told a Downing Street news conference.