The illegitimate Russian president, Vladimir Putin, secretly sent submarines to Britain's cables and pipelines, but the operation failed. Britain publicly warned Moscow of "serious consequences."
Points of attention
- Britain detected and stopped a covert Russian submarine operation targeting undersea pipelines and cables in the Atlantic, warning Moscow of serious consequences.
- The UK, with the help of allies, tracked three Russian vessels and monitored them for over a month, ensuring the protection of critical underwater infrastructure.
Britain foils Putin's secret "underwater" operation
This was announced by Defense Secretary John Healy at a press conference from Downing Street.
Three Russian vessels were discovered in British waters of the Atlantic Ocean:
Shark-class attack submarine
two specialized submarines of the Main Directorate for Deep-Sea Research of Russia (GUDI)
Earlier, in November 2025, British intelligence also detected the Russian reconnaissance ship Yantar in the region.
According to Gili, Putin ordered these vessels to "conduct hybrid warfare against the UK and our allies, particularly around critical underwater infrastructure."
The British military tracked the submarines from the sea and air — in coordination with the Allies.
A Royal Navy warship and a Royal Air Force P-8a aircraft, along with allies, provided 24-hour surveillance of Russian submarines.
John Healy
British Minister of Defense
More than 500 British military personnel participated in the tracking. The mission lasted more than a month and has now been completed.
We watched them, we were able to track them, we scattered sonar buoys to demonstrate to them that we were monitoring every hour of their activity.
According to the minister, the Shark-class submarine sailed "home" after being tracked. The British military continues to monitor the two GUDI boats.
Healy stressed that the submarines were within the UK's exclusive economic zone, not in coastal territorial waters.
According to preliminary data, there is no evidence of damage to cables or pipelines.
The UK has one of the most resilient underwater networks of any country, with built-in backup mechanisms in case of damage. But we are with allies, with whom we will check the health of our infrastructure.
Gili made a deliberate public statement — to inform about the failure of the Russian operation.
To President Putin, I say: we see you, we see your activities on our cables and pipelines, and you must know that any attempt to damage them will be unacceptable and will have serious consequences. Putin's covert operation has failed because this government is fulfilling our first duty — to protect Britain.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry commented on the information revealed by Britain. In particular, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote in X that the revealed Russian operation demonstrates acute regional and global threats posed by the Russian regime. According to him, exposing the malicious actions of the Russian Federation is one of the most effective methods of countering it.
We call on the international community to abandon any wishful thinking about Moscow. This regime must be contained, isolated, and ruthlessly sanctioned to curb its aggressive ambitions.
