Uttalelse fra forsvarsminister Tore O. Sandvik om russiske tokt i, og i nærheten av, norske og britiske havområder
Nyhet | 09.04.2026 | Forsvarsdepartementet
Uttalelse fra forsvarsminister Tore O. Sandvik i forlengelse av pressekonferansen til den britiske forsvarsministeren John Healey 9. april 2026.
Nyheitsvarsel om: Forsvar
----oooo00O00oooo----
Jeg regner med at norske P-8A var i full sving da disse ubåtene transiterte våre farvann. I følge BBC var vi med på tracking av ubåtene. (Red.)
UK says Russia ran
submarine
operation over
cables and pipelines
File photo of frigate HMS St Albans deployed to track the Russian submarine
Three Russian submarines conducted a "covert"
operation over cables and pipelines in waters north of the UK, Defence
Secretary John Healey said.
A British warship and
aircraft were deployed to deter the "malign" activity by Moscow and
there was "no evidence" of any damage to UK infrastructure in the
Atlantic, he added.
Addressing Russian President
Vladimir Putin directly, Healey said: "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".
The UK is dependent on its
undersea cables and pipelines for its data and energy.
There are around 60 undersea
cables which come ashore at several parts along the UK coastline, particularly
around East Anglia and South West England.
More than 90% of the UK's
day-to-day internet traffic travels via these undersea cables.
Healey told a Downing Street
press conference on Thursday that Russia had sent an Akula class submarine as a
diversionary tactic while two of its Guggi spy submarines carried out the
surveillance of these cables.
Healey said when the first
Akula submarine was monitored it soon left UK waters and went back to Russia,
while the two Gugi vessels remained.
The Royal Navy deployed a
Type 23 frigate HMS St Albans, RFA Tidespring and Merlin helicopters to track
all three of the Russian submarines.
Other nations were involved
in tracking the Russian activity - though Healey only mentioned Norway by name.
"Our armed forces left
[Russia] 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," Healey said.
"We watched them, we
were able to track them, we dropped sonar buoys to demonstrate to them that we
were monitoring every hour of their operation."
Healey also claimed that
Putin had sought to capitalise on the world being "distracted" by war
in the Middle East and that it was Russia that posed the "primary threat
to UK security".
1:00
Watch: 'We see you', Healey warns Putin
He said Moscow still
"poses a threat" but expressed confidence the UK could track and
monitor future activity while continuing to expose "any covert operations
that Putin wants to mount that may threaten our vital interests".
Prime Minister Sir Keir
Starmer said he was "determined to protect the British people from paying
the price for Putin's aggression in their household bills," adding that
this was why the UK would not "shy away from taking action and exposing
Russia's destabilising activity that seeks to test our resolve."
Underwater cables and
pipelines are a major piece of critical infrastructure worldwide.
More than 600 undersea cables
connect the world by 870,000 miles (1.4m km) carrying electricity and
information across oceans and seas, coming ashore often at discreet locations.
Ministry of Defence
The UK also relies on a
network of underwater gas pipelines, primarily in the North Sea, which provides
essential energy from the UK and Norwegian Continental Shelves.
This includes the 724
mile-long (1,166km) Langeled pipeline between Norway and the UK.
About 77% of the UK's gas
imports come from Norway through pipelines lying under the North Sea.
BBC
InDepth revealed in 2025 that Russia was waging "hybrid
warfare" against the UK and western Europe, with the aim of punishing or
deterring Western nations from continuing their military support of Ukraine.
"Hybrid warfare" is
when a hostile state carries out an anonymous, deniable attack, usually in
highly suspicious circumstances, but stops short of being an attributable act
of war.
The Russian embassy has previously said it was "not interested in British underwater communications."
