Moscow said on Saturday that one of its destroyers chased a US nuclear submarine off the Kuril Islands, north of Japan, into Russian territorial waters. An accusation denied by the American army.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the building dubbed “Marshal Shaposhnikov” broadcast an underwater message ordering the Virginia-class submersible “to surface immediately”. Faced with his refusal, “means”, which have not been disclosed, were used, forcing the American submarine to “leave Russian territorial waters at full speed”, according to a press release from the ministry. The facts would have taken place on Saturday at 7:40 a.m. GMT (8:40 a.m. in France).
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the US submarine was spotted during routine Russian Pacific Fleet exercises near Urup Island in Russian territorial waters.
Americans deny
The US military immediately denied: “There is no truth to Russian claims about our operations in their territorial waters.” “We fly, navigate and operate safely in international waters,” said Captain Kyle Raines, spokesman for the US Indo-Pacific Command, declining to comment on the precise location of US submarines in the region. region.
Contacted by AFP, the Pentagon had initially declared “to be aware of press articles concerning this supposed naval incident in the Pacific”, but had specified not to be able to confirm the details.
The incident occurred hours before a telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, in the midst of Russian-American tensions around Ukraine. The Kremlin denounced the American “hysteria” about Ukraine after this call between the two presidents.
