US denies Russian warship chased off its submarine in the Pacific amid Ukraine tensions
- Moscow said the Marshal Shaposhnikov frigate used ‘corresponding means’ to make the submarine leave Russian waters near the Kuril Islands
- The US military, however, said ‘there is no truth to the Russian claims of our operations in their territorial waters’
The United States on Saturday denied that it had carried out military operations in Russian territorial waters, after Moscow said its naval vessel chased away an American submarine in the Pacific.
Interfax news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying a Russian naval vessel chased away a US submarine in Russian waters in the Pacific after the vessel ignored the ship’s orders to surface.
“There is no truth to the Russian claims of our operations in their territorial waters,” Captain Kyle Raines, a US military spokesman, said in a statement.
“I will not comment on the precise location of our submarines but we do fly, sail, and operate safely in international waters,” the statement added.
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It is common for the US to monitor military activity being carried out by other countries without having to enter their territorial waters.
The crew of the Marshal Shaposhnikov frigate used “corresponding means” to make the submarine leave Russian waters, the Russian defence ministry was quoted as saying.
It said it had called in the US defence attaché over the incident.
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It said the order was ignored by the US submarine’s crew, leading the Russian frigate to take unspecified action to make it leave.
“The US submarine … left Russian territorial waters at maximum speed,” the defence ministry was quoted as saying.
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It was not clear specifically where Russia claimed the incident took place, but part of the Kuril Islands chain is claimed by Japan and the territorial dispute over some of the islands dates back to the time when the then-Soviet Union seized them at the end of World War II.
Russia’s defence minister spoke by telephone with his US counterpart on Saturday as Washington and other Western nations warned that war in Ukraine could ignite at any moment.
US President Joe Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin also spoke for an hour by phone later in the day to discuss Ukraine but according to the Kremlin, the submarine incident was not brought up.
