UK says it exposed Russian submarine activity near undersea cables

The UK Ministry of Defence disclosed that Russian GUGI submarines and support vessels conducted covert seabed operations near critical undersea infrastructure (pipelines and fibre-optic cables) north of the UK; British and allied forces tracked the submarines for weeks, deployed sonobuoys to reveal monitoring, and reported the Russian vessels subsequently retreated without reported damage. The announcement highlights risks to national connectivity and the intersection of physical and cyber security, urging increased surveillance and allied cooperation to protect subsea infrastructure.