Shoigu told Putin about the operation to expel the American submarine

The operation to expel the submarine, which was discovered during an exercise in the Pacific Fleet near the island of Urun, took about three hours. According to preliminary data, the ship belongs to the United States. This was announced on Monday, February 14, by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

“As a result of the work of the Pacific Fleet group during the development of one of the parts of the exercises in the area of ​​the Kuril Islands, Urup Island, a submarine was discovered, most likely the United States,” Shoigu said.

At the meeting, Shoigu also reported to Putin that the submarine had invaded Russian territorial waters to a depth of 4 km. In addition, in order to expel the foreign submarine, the Russian side had to apply three special actions. Shoigu called the invasion of Russian waters by a foreign submarine unreasonable and incomprehensible.

An American Virginia-class submarine entered Russian territorial waters on February 12. She ignored the demands to leave Russian waters, in connection with which the frigate “Marshal Shaposhnikov” used special equipment. After that, the submarine left the territorial waters of the Russian Federation at maximum speed.

According to Izvestia, the crew of the submarine tried to follow the exercises of the Pacific Fleet. However, the American submarine was discovered even before it started the task. On the same day, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation handed a note to the US military attache. It was stated that the actions of the American submarine are regarded as a gross violation of international law.

On February 13, the Pentagon denied information about the presence of a US Navy submarine in Russian territorial waters near the Kuril Islands. At the same time, on the same day, the US Department of Defense confirmed that it was aware of the situation with the American nuclear submarine in this region.