UK warns Putin ‘we see you’ after 500 troops track Russian spy subs for a month

John Healey has revealed that the UK carried out a large-scale military operation to monitor three Russian submarines operating near British waters.

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The operation involved the Royal Navy, RAF P-8 surveillance aircraft, and around 500 personnel. A warship was deployed over thousands of nautical miles to track the vessels, which were believed to be surveying undersea infrastructure such as cables and pipelines.

Healey said the submarines, an Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine and two specialist vessels linked to Russia’s deep-sea research programme, have since left UK waters. He suggested the attack submarine may have acted as a decoy while the other two focused on seabed operations.

“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 have serious consequences,” Healey said, addressing Vladimir Putin directly.

The UK government believes the submarines were potentially gathering intelligence on critical infrastructure, which includes undersea systems responsible for energy supply and global communications.

Healey stressed the importance of these assets, noting that around half of the UK’s gas supply and the vast majority of international data traffic depend on such networks.

The disclosure comes amid broader concerns about Russian maritime activity, including reports of naval vessels escorting sanctioned ships through the English Channel. The UK has recently strengthened its posture, with Keir Starmer authorising the Royal Navy to intercept and seize sanction-breaking vessels if necessary.

Officials say there is currently no evidence that any infrastructure was damaged, but monitoring efforts remain ongoing as tensions continue.