14.08.2009
Source:
Canada's Department of National Defense has sent a surveillance plane to the country's eastern coast to monitor two nuclear-powered Russian submarines in the area, CBC reported on Thursday.
It said the attack subs were first spotted on Aug. 5 in international waters off the U.S. state of Georgia and that their presence had been leaked to the
New York Times by anonymous security analysts.
While the subs were off the U.S. coast, the Pentagon was also monitoring their movements but no action was taken against the vessels.
Canadian officials said the
Akula-class vessels had now moved north.
"For a variety of reasons, to demonstrate our commitment to sovereignty, we're watching to ensure we know what is happening along our coastlines," Defense Minister Peter Mackay told
The Canadian Press. "Anything that comes near sovereign Canadian territory, we are going to react."
The Pentagon said last Thursday it was unconcerned by the presence of two Russian submarines in international waters off the U.S. coast.
A U.S. military expert said it was probably 15 years since two submarines had carried out such a patrol.
However, a high-ranking Russian Navy source dismissed the comments, saying that Russian vessels had never stopped their patrols of international waters.
In mid-July the Russian Navy launched two missiles from submarines in the Arctic Ocean. The test was hailed by an intelligence source as a success as the United States had not known about the location of the submarines prior to the launch.
The source said that the launch area, covered by ice floe, was heavily patrolled by Russian attack submarines and the Americans were unable to detect the arrival of two strategic submarines before the launch.
