Russia acquires covert US nuclear submarine equipment

According to Fars News Agency’s International Service, news sources reported today, Wednesday (February 16th) that Moscow has acquired secret equipment belonging to a US nuclear submarine that is said to be on a mission in Russian territorial waters.

Russia has acquired a “sonar” device belonging to the “Virginia” class submarine from the US Navy, Newsweek reports, quoting the Moscow-based Avia.pro.

On Saturday, Russian media reported that a US submarine had been spotted in the Kuril Islands but had left Russian airspace after a while.

Russia’s Interfax news agency and Reuters reported that the US submarine ignored requests to leave Russian waters, but left the region after taking some action.

The incident took place at 10:40 a.m. Moscow time near one of the Kuril Islands, and a Virginia-class submarine entered the area where the Russian fleet was training in the Pacific, Sputnik news agency reported, quoting the Russian Defense Ministry. Was.

Following the incident, the Russian Ministry of Defense summoned a US military attaché. “The US Embassy in Moscow has been summoned to the Russian Ministry of Defense for violating Russian borders by a US Navy submarine,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Russia’s defense minister recently said that NATO spy and tactical aircraft flights near the country’s borders had increased by almost a third compared to last year.

“NATO flights of NATO Air Force reconnaissance and tactical aircraft in areas bordering the Russian Federation have increased by 30 percent,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a joint meeting of the Russian and Belarusian defense ministers.

The Russian Defense Minister added that the intensity of NATO operational and combat exercises is still high. “More than 30 exercises are held annually based on the scenario of an armed confrontation with Russia near the western border,” he said. “Non-NATO countries such as Georgia, Ukraine, Sweden and Finland are increasingly participating in the exercises.”

The United States and other NATO nations routinely deploy jets and drones to patrol near Russia’s borders. The Russian Air Force, in turn, is sending its fighters to repel aircraft that come too close to the border.

The Kremlin has repeatedly condemned NATO’s behavior, saying such actions run the risk of unintended conflict.

The device is said to have been found near the island of Europe in the Kuril Islands. Russian media have claimed that a Russian nuclear submarine fired at the Russian forces.

“As we said on Saturday, Russia’s claims about a naval strike are untrue,” Eric Pahon, a Pentagon spokesman, told Newsweek. “These additional claims are also false and distorted.”

Reports of Russian acquisition of the equipment come amid escalating tensions between the United States and Russia over Ukraine.

Western officials, especially US officials, have threatened Moscow with sanctions and retaliation in recent months, with unsubstantiated allegations that Russian troops may invade Ukraine at any moment. However, the narratives of Western officials regarding these claims have not been consistent.

For example, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Monday night, while the US media was maneuvering on the position of Russian troops in an offensive position and speculating about when the attack would begin, said that there was still no evidence to confirm that ” Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the attack, but no one is present.

Russia has repeatedly denied the claims of Western countries and accused the English-language media of trying to create collective excitement and use it to advance its goals. During these tensions, of course, Moscow stressed the need to receive security guarantees that NATO would not expand into the company and refuse to accept Ukraine as a member of the coalition.

However, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that Russia has no veto power over Ukraine’s plans to join the alliance.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that NATO and US response to Russia’s request for security guarantees had disappointed Moscow, but that there was still hope for a diplomatic solution.

Lavrov told a news conference after Kharova on Tuesday that Western reports that a possible attack was imminent were “news terrorism”.

Tensions between Ukraine and the West have risen sharply in recent years, especially since the annexation of the Crimean peninsula to Russia in 2014. The peninsula seceded from Ukraine and joined Russia after a referendum after the fall of Ukraine’s central government by Western-backed groups and the rise to power of pro-Russian groups in eastern Ukraine.

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