NATO chief Mark Rutte has ridiculed Russia over the “limping” condition of one of its submarines, while Russian authorities denied it had been forced to the surface due to technical problems.
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet said the diesel-powered submarine Novorossiysk had surfaced off the coast of France to comply with navigation rules in the English Channel, rejecting reports there was a serious malfunction.
But Dutch authorities said this weekend that the submarine was under tow in the North Sea. And Rutte said in a speech in Slovenia on Monday that the ship was “broken”.
“Now there is in fact hardly any Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean. There is a lonely and broken Russian submarine limping home after the patrol,” Rutte said.
“What a change from the 1984 Tom Clancy novel ‘The Hunt for Red October’. Nowadays it’s more like the hunt for the nearest mechanic.”
VChK-OGPU, a shadowy Telegram channel that publishes alleged Russian security leaks, reported on September 27 that fuel was leaking from the Novorossiysk’s hold, increasing the risk of an explosion.
NATO’s Maritime Command published photos on October 9 of what it said was a French naval frigate observing a Russian submarine operating on the surface off the coast of Brittany.
“NATO stands ready to defend our alliance with constant vigilance and maritime awareness across the Atlantic,” it wrote on X, without naming the submarine.
On Saturday, the Dutch Defense Ministry said the Dutch navy had escorted the Novorossiysk and an accompanying towing vessel, the Yakov Grebelsky, in the North Sea.
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet said on Monday that the submarine was carrying out a “planned inter-fleet transit” after completing tasks in the Mediterranean Sea.
State news agency TASS said the ship, which entered service in 2014, was part of a group of submarines carrying Kalibr cruise missiles.
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