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

Defence Secretary John Healey has revealed a large-scale operation took place to keep track of three Russian submarines off the British coast.

A Royal Navy warship travelled thousands of nautical miles, while RAF P8 aircraft joined and 500 personnel were sent out in response to the threat, he said.

All three subs – thought to have been scanning the seabed for vital cables and pipelines that could be sabotaged – have since left UK waters.

Healey said they were left in ‘no doubt they were being monitored’ and their ‘movements were not as covert as President Putin planned’.

He added: ‘I’m making this statement to call out this Russian activity, and to President Putin I say, “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 have serious consequences.’

Want to understand more about how politics affects your life?

Metro's senior politics reporter Craig Munro breaks down all the chaos into easy to follow insight, in Metro's politics newsletter Alright, Gov?

Sent every Wednesday.

Sign up here.

Got a story?

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device.