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 region said on Saturday (local time) when asked by dpa: “The Russian claims that we are operating in their territorial waters are not true.” He will not know the exact location of US -Boats express, “but we fly, sail and operate safely in international waters,” emphasized the spokesman.
The Russian Defense Ministry had previously announced that a US submarine had been expelled from its own territorial waters in the Pacific. The Virginia-class boat violated the Russian state border near the Kuril Islands on Saturday. Exercises by the Russian Navy were planned there at the time. Because the US crew initially ignored warnings, the Russian side used “appropriate means” to force the boat to turn back, it said. Details were not initially given. The American military attaché was later summoned to the Defense Ministry in Moscow to hand him a note of protest.