Russia's ambassador to the U.K. did not deny Moscow is tracking British nuclear submarines in British waters but claimed it posed no threat to the U.K., the BBC reported on April 12.
BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg questioned Ambassador Andrei Kelin after a Sunday Times investigation published on April 5 revealed that Russian sensors were found in the sea around the U.K.
“I am not going to deny it, but I wonder whether we really have an interest in following all the British submarines with very old outdated nuclear warheads... all these threats are extremely exaggerated,” Kelin said.
“This threat has been invented, absolutely, there is no threat at all from Russia to the U.K.,” he added after Kuenssberg pushed him further.
The U.K. has four Vanguard submarines that carry nuclear missiles as part of Britain’s continuous at-sea deterrent. The British military discovered several sensors after they washed ashore, and the Royal Navy identified even more, although the exact locations are classified.
The Sunday Times described the sensors as a cog in Russia’s hybrid warfare machine. The investigation also revealed that unmanned Russian vehicles have been found near deep-sea communications cables, and there is credible intelligence suggesting that Russian oligarchs’ superyachts may have been used for underwater reconnaissance.
In recent months, critical cables in the Baltic Sea have been damaged, leading to suspicions of Russian sabotage. In response, eight NATO members, including Finland, Estonia, and Lithuania, launched a maritime operation in the sea.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
The Sunday Times investigation suggests that Russia’s military program, particularly its deep-sea research vessel, Yantar, poses a significant threat to Britain’s critical underwater infrastructure. The Yantar, equipped with unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) and mini-submarines, has been spotted near vital internet cables and data centers.
According to Royal Navy sources, the Yantar’s presence in U.K. waters signals Russia’s escalating efforts to infiltrate vital communication lines and military cables.
A spokesperson for the Defense Ministry told BBC News that the U.K. is amping up the security of its undersea infrastructure.
“Just as the defense secretary called out the activities of the Russian spy ship Yantar hovering over our undersea cables, let those who threaten the U.K. or our allies be in no doubt that we will defend our undersea infrastructure,” they said.
In July 2024, Bloomberg reported that Russia had sent attack submarines to the Irish Sea on several occasions after the full-scale invasion. According to unnamed sources, the deployment of the submarines “could be an attempt to identify potential weaknesses in British and Irish Sea defenses, or to try to intimidate the U.K. in response to its support for Ukraine.”
Anna Fratsyvir
