Enlarge image
A Virginia-class submarine (icon image)
Photo: US Navy/AFP
The US has denied Russia's account of an incident involving an American submarine in the Pacific.
A spokesman for the US Navy for the Indo-Pacific said: "Russian claims that we operate in their territorial waters are not true." He would not comment on the exact location of US boats, "but we fly, sail and operate safely in international waters,” the spokesman emphasized.
The Russian Ministry of Defense had previously called in the US military attaché because of the incident in the Pacific.
The Russian news agency Ria Novosti reported that near the Russian island of Urup in the Kuril archipelago, there was a clash between Russian forces and a US submarine.
The submarine entered Russian waters during a Russian naval exercise off the Kuril Islands, the Interfax news agency said, citing the Russian military.
The destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov tracked down the US submarine, the Defense Ministry said in Moscow on Saturday.
After the submarine ignored requests to heave to, the Russian destroyer "took appropriate measures," it said without further explanation.
The submarine then left Russian waters “at top speed”.
The incident comes at a time of great tension between Russia and the West over the Ukraine conflict.
tfb/dpa/Reuters
