UK, Norway to Jointly Hunt Russian Submarines Under New Pact

A defense pact announced by Britain and Norway on Thursday will see their navies jointly operate a warship fleet to “hunt Russian submarines” in the North Atlantic, the UK government said.

It comes as Britain’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) reports that sightings of Russian vessels in UK waters have increased 30 percent in the past two years. Norway announced in September the purchase of at least five Type-26 frigates from Britain for 10 billion pounds ($13 billion).

The agreement aims to protect critical undersea infrastructure, such as cables, that Western officials say are increasingly under threat from Moscow.

The latest announcement coincides with a visit by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store to a Royal Air Force base in northern Scotland. Under the pact, the two countries will operate a fleet of 13 British-built frigates on an “interchangeable” basis.

They will monitor Russian naval activity in the waters between Greenland, Iceland and the UK, “defending critical infrastructure such as underwater cables and pipelines, which carry vital communications, electricity and gas”, the MoD said in a statement. (AFP)