The head of NATO has mocked the state of Vladimir Putin’s navy, claiming a Russian submarine was “limping” home. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has denied that Novorossiysk was suffering technical problems and that it only surfaced off the French coast to comply with navigation rules as it transited the English Channel.
The Kilo-class boat was pictured sailing at the surface last week as it was shadowed by NATO warships, including a Royal Navy frigate. The 243-foot submarine was accompanied by a tugboat, leading to suggestions it was being towed, following reports it had suffered a fuel leak in the Strait of Gibraltar in late September. VChK-OGPU, a Telegram channel that publishes alleged Russian security leaks, reported fuel had been seeping into the hold of the Novorossiysk, raising the risk of an explosion.
Speaking at a NATO event in Slovenia, the alliance’s Secretary General Mark Rutte joked about Russia’s maritime power.
“Now, in effect, there is hardly any Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean left,” he said.
“There’s a lone and broken Russian submarine limping home from patrol.
“What a change from the 1984 Tom Clancy novel The Hunt for Red October. Today, it seems more like the hunt for the nearest mechanic.”
Royal Navy Type 23 frigate HMS Iron Duke, with her embarked helicopter, tracked the Novorossiysk in the Channel over three days (October 7-9) as part of a joint NATO operation.
Shadowing duties were then passed onto the Belgian and Dutch navies as the diesel-electric attack submarine and its support tug reached the North Sea.
The vessels were travelling towards a base in the Baltic Sea, the Royal Navy said.
The Novorossiysk had reportedly spent three months in the Mediterranean before leaving the region to return to Russia.
It is assigned to Moscow’s Black Sea fleet, but access to the sea has been cut off due to the war in Ukraine.
The fleet strongly denied reportsthat the Novorossiysk had suffered a fuel leak, insisting it was conducting a “scheduled inter-fleet transit”.
According to the Interfax news agency, the fleet’s press service said: “Information disseminated by a number of media outlets about an alleged malfunction and, as a result, the emergency surfacing of the diesel-electric submarine Novorossiysk off the coast of France does not correspond to reality.
“In accordance with international navigation regulations, submarines are to navigate the English Channel only while on the surface.”