Overview
- Defence Secretary John Healey disclosed Thursday that UK forces working with allies tracked three Russian submarines near seabed infrastructure for a month and the units then withdrew with no evidence of harm.
- Officials said an Akula-class attack submarine acted as a decoy while two GUGI deep-sea vessels lingered over cables and pipelines, with HMS St Albans, RFA Tidespring, RAF P-8 aircraft and sonobuoys maintaining 24/7 contact.
- The UK moved from quiet surveillance to open monitoring to signal the operation was exposed, a tactic meant to deter interference with infrastructure without triggering a direct confrontation.
- Press reports said Wednesday that Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich escorted two sanctioned oil tankers through the English Channel as RFA Tideforce followed, even though the UK has authority to seize such shadow-fleet ships but has not yet done so.
- Undersea fiber-optic cables carry over 99% of international data traffic and much of the gas that reaches the UK, which is why London is funding extra P-8 patrol capacity and a broader anti-submarine push with NATO partners.