Britain deployed military vessels to prevent any attacks on cables and pipelines by Russian submarines that spent more than a month in and around British waters earlier this year, Defence Minister John
Britain deployed military vessels to prevent any attacks on cables and pipelines by Russian submarines that spent more than a month in and around British waters earlier this year, Defence Minister John Healey said on Thursday.
Britain accused Russia of using the distraction of events in the Middle East to try to conduct the covert operation in the High North maritime region, home to key shipping routes and critical infrastructure such as undersea cables.
Healey said British forces and allies including Norway tracked and deterred malign activity by the Russian vessels, adding that the submarines had now left the area and there were no signs of damage to underwater infrastructure.
Revealing the operation publicly at a press conference, Healey said the intent was to show Russian President Vladimir Putin that the activity had been detected.
"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'," he said.
"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
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