A Russian attack submarine and two underwater spy vessels were deployed as part of a mission targeting Britain, Defence Secretary John Healey has said.
As Donald Trump’s Iran war raged in the Middle East, the Akula-class nuclear-powered submarine and two spy submarines from Moscow’s Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research (known as GUGI) entered international waters in the High North, according to defence officials.
The Russian submarines are understood to have been “in and around” the 200-mile UK economic zone waters rather than within the 12-mile territorial waters.
The Royal Navy deployed a Type 23 frigate HMS St Albans, RFA Tidespring and Merlin helicopters to track the attack submarine, as well as the two spy submarines.
The tracking operation, which involved 500 UK military personnel, 450 hours of flight time and navy vessels covering several thousand nautical miles, was conducted with the Norwegian military and lasted a month before the Russian vessels retreated from the waters they were surveying.
Mr Healey gave details of the Russian underwater operation after the Royal Navy carried out ten days of intensive monitoring operations of Russian warships and a submarine which entered UK waters in the English Channel and North Sea.
HMS Somerset and HMS Mersey, supported by tanker RFA Tideforce and Wildcat helicopters, tracked the movements of a Russian destroyer, frigate, landing ship and Kilo-class submarine.
Sir Keir Starmer has given the Royal Navy permission to seize control of Russian “shadow fleet” vessels being used to break oil sanctions.
On the underwater Russian operation, UK defence chiefs swiftly identified the attack submarine as a “decoy” to distract from the mission using smaller spy submarines to allegedly map underwater infrastructure.
Britain has faced heavy criticism for not deploying more Royal Navy vessels to the Middle East.
But Mr Healey stressed that the "greatest threats are often unseen and silent".
The Defence Secretary 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."
Mr Healey added that Vladimir Putin "would have wanted us, I expect, to be distracted”.
The Cabinet stressed: “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."
Giving details of the Royal Navy operation, he explained: “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.”
The Russian submarines were said to have been tracked for “every mile” of their journeys.
“We recognised the Akula attack submarine as a likely decoy to distract us from the Gugi submarines,” said Mr Healey.
“We watched the Gugi submarines as they spent time over critical infrastructure relevant to us and our allies in the North Atlantic.
“We watched them. We were able to track them.”
British defences were previously tested by a Russian GUGI operation, according to the MoD, when the Russian spy ship Yantar sailed near UK waters last year.
The vessel was tracked by a Royal Navy frigate and RAF P8s, with lasers being directed at British pilots.
