Russia ran a secret operation targeting crucial energy and data cables in British waters for over a month, the Defence Secretary revealed today.
John Healey said a nuclear-powered attack submarine and two spy submarines had been spotted in the North Atlantic, with a warship and aircraft deployed in response.
Sonar buoys – which track underwater movements using acoustic signals – were dropped into the water to deter the Russians from targeting the cables, which carry vast amounts of valuable data.
Addressing Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr Healey said: ‘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.’
The Defence Secretary said the operation involved an Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine and two specialist submarines from a Russian ministry of defence research programme known as GUGI (Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research).
Aided by allies including Norway, Britain deployed 500 personnel onboard a warship and Royal Air Force P8 aircraft, which flew for more than 450 hours before the Russian subs retreated.
Mr Healey said Putin had sought to capitalise on the world being ‘distracted’ by the Iran war and said his actions showed by it was ‘not in Britain’s national interest’ to deploy large parts of the Royal Navy to the Middle East.
He told a press conference that he wanted to expose Russia’s targeting of Britain’s underwater infrastructure and vowed to ‘step up’ efforts to protect it.
It comes as Putin made a mockery of Sir Keir Starmer’s vow to stop illegal oil tankers using the Channel by sending a warship to escort them, unmolested by the Royal Navy.
Mr Healey said: ‘In response to the Russian submarines, I can confirm that I deployed our armed forces to track and to deter any malign activity by these vessels.
‘A Royal Navy warship and Royal Air Force P8 aircraft alongside allies ensured that the Russian submarines were monitored 24/7.
‘The Akula submarine subsequently retreated home, having been closely tracked throughout and we continued to monitor the two GUGI submarines in and around wider UK waters.
‘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.
‘Those GUGI submarines have now left UK waters and headed back north.’
He said the month-long operation had now concluded.
The senior minister said the attack submarine acted as ‘a likely decoy to distract us from the Gugi submarines as they ‘spent time over critical infrastructure relevant to us and our allies in the North Atlantic’.
He continued: ‘Because we were watching them, 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.
‘And I’m confident, we have no evidence that there has been any damage, but with allies, were sure that this is now verifiable.’
The submarines had been within the UK’s exclusive economic zone, which extends up to 200 nautical miles – about 230 miles – offshore, but not within Britain’s territorial waters, within 12 nautical miles (13.8 miles) from the coast, the Defence Secretary said.
It was not the first time vessels from the Gugi fleet were ‘directed by President to conduct hybrid warfare activities’ against the UK’s vital subsea infrastructure, Mr Healey said.
Last November, the Yantar spy ship was caught lurking over cables in waters north of Scotland and was warned off by a Royal Navy nuclear-powered attack submarine.
The Ministry of Defence says Gugi has both specialist surface ships and submarines that are used to survey underwater infrastructure during peacetime, but also has the capability to damage or destroy those vital links during a conflict.
The UK and its Nato allies have become increasingly concerned about the risk Moscow poses to underwater cables and pipelines, amid heightened tensions following the invasion of Ukraine.
Attacks on undersea infrastructure could cause major disruption to the financial and communications systems Britons rely on.
It comes at a sensitive time for the MoD after the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich was seen accompanying two ‘shadow fleet’ vessels past Britain’s south coast yesterday, with the Navy only able to rustle up one support ship to watch it.
Last month, Sir Keir gave approval for Britain’s commandos to board and halt shadow fleet vessels as they pass through UK waters in an attempt to ‘go after’ the sanction-breaking ships ‘even harder’.
But according to The Telegraph, RFA Tideforce, an auxiliary tanker armed with only light defensive weapons, simply followed the three-ship flotilla past Dover without intervening.
It followed claims by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch that Sir Keir was ‘all mouth and no trousers’ when it came to defence.
Asked about yesterday’s incident in the Channel, Mr Healey said Moscow ‘still poses a threat’.
He added that Britain ‘will continue to do what we’ve done as a matter of course, which is ensure that we can escort any Russian warships through our waters and, in the case of this operation, to ensure that we can track any potentially malign activity, and that we can monitor and make clear that we have exposed any covert operations that Putin wants to mount that may threaten our vital interests’.
Mr Healey claimed the operation to shadow Russian subs showed why Britain had been right not to send more ships to the Middle East.
He said: ‘When a crisis erupts noisily and dangerously, as it has done in the Middle East, I understand people questioning why all UK military assets and personnel have not been deployed to deal with it, but that is not in Britain’s national interest.
‘The greatest threats are often unseen and silent, and as demands on defence rise, we must deploy our resources to best effect.’
He added that Putin ‘would have wanted us, I expect, to be distracted and my purpose today is to demonstrate to him publicly that we have not been – that we have our eye on him, that we recognise he and Russia pose the primary threat to UK security and Nato security.’
Russia was likely sharing intelligence and training Iranian forces in drone tactics, with Moscow’s attacks on Ukraine ‘reflected’ in many of the ways that Iran is attacking Middle East countries, he added.
Sir Keir, who arrived in the UAE this morning as part of a visit to the Gulf, insisted he would ‘not shy away’ from taking action against Russia.
He said: ‘I am determined to protect the British people from paying the price for Putin’s aggression in their household bills.
‘That is why we will not shy away from taking action and exposing Russia’s destabilising activity that seeks to test our resolve.
‘Our Armed Forces are among the best in the world, and the British public should be in no doubt that this government will do whatever it takes to defend our national and economic security, wherever in the world that is needed.’
