A British submarine secretly tracking a Russian spy ship hanging around undersea cables surfaced nearby to send a message, UK says

• The UK has tracked a Russian spy ship in its waters twice in recent months.

• In November, a British submarine followed the vessel and surfaced nearby to turn it away.

• The UK defense secretary said the Russian ship could be mapping undersea cables and gathering intel.

Two months ago, a UK submarine that was secretly tracking a Russian spy ship hanging around undersea cables in British waters surfaced close to the vessel, forcing it to leave the area, the UK Ministry of Defense said Wednesday.

The Russian vessel was spotted in British waters again this week, and UK Defense Secretary John Healey has accused the ship of mapping out undersea infrastructure and gathering critical intelligence.

Healey addressed the House of Commons on Wednesday to discuss Russia's maritime activities. The Russian spy vessel Yantar, he said, was in the North Sea after passing through British waters. Two Royal Navy vessels, the HMS Somerset and HMS Tyne, were deployed "to monitor the vessel every minute through our waters," he said.

Healey accused the Yantar of mapping the UK's undersea cables in the area. "Let me be clear, this is a Russian spy ship used for gathering intelligence and mapping the UK's critical underwater infrastructure," Healey said.

Western officials have raised concerns about hybrid warfare and other threats to undersea cables that are critical to global data transmissions. Cables have been damaged multiple times in recent months. It remains unclear if these incidents, which have been linked to Russia and China, were intentional.

Healey said that he adjusted the Royal Navy's rules of engagement to allow UK vessels to sail closer to track the Yantar.

Healey said the spy ship was "detected loitering over UK critical undersea infrastructure" in November, which the Ministry of Defense confirmed.

In response, Healey deployed three Royal Navy vessels and a maritime patrol aircraft to shadow the Yantar. He also authorized a Royal Navy submarine to surface close to the Russian spy ship as a deterrence measure, making "clear that we had been covertly monitoring its every move," Healey said.

The UK defense secretary said the incidents were the latest examples of worrying Russian activity around critical infrastructure.

Russia has long engaged in hybrid warfare tactics against NATO, and those have increased since the start of the Ukraine war. These tactics, along with other hybrid warfare efforts, are seen by officials and military leaders as tricky to respond to because they're just below the threshold of conflict.

The UK's response has included placing sanctions on ships believed to be part of Russia's shadow fleet and maintaining closer communications with allies to track ships' movements.

Healey also said the Royal Air Force would provide a P-8 Poseidon and Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft to the Baltic Sentry NATO deployment specifically to monitor undersea cables in the Baltic Sea.

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