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Vladimir Putin’s deployment of Russian submarines to patrol the British coastline has sparked alarm in the UK. Earlier today, Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed that Russia’s submarines are circling the British coastline. He went on to warn that Russia is the UK’s “number one threat” in the world.
Russian expert Mark Galeotti told LBC this afternoon that Russia is “trolling Britain” and trying to “desensitise” Britons to the presence of Russian forces.
The intelligence analyst was pressed on why Vladimir Putin “is regularly sending his warships and submarines to patrol our coast”.
He responded: “Two reasons. ONe is get to them used to the conditions, so they understand if they were ever deployed in these waters in serious combat situations, they have some sense of the environment they are operating.
“As a wider reason, this is trolling Britain and trolling the West. This is how Putin gets some kind of response.”
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He continued: “We must not be complacent. One of the reasons the Russians do this is to desensitise us, to get us used to it.
“So, if God forbid, it did come to combat operations, they would be more likely to sneak their submarines around.”
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph this weekend, Mr Wallace claimed that a Russian Kilo-class submarine was spotted in the Irish Sea in 2020.
Mr Wallace said that a Russian naval vessel has not been detected in the Irish Sea “for a very, very long time”.
Since 2013, there have been at least 150 observations of Russian naval vessels in UK waters.
Mr Wallace added: “We’re regularly visited by nosy Russian ships.
“We have tried de-escalation. We have tried many methods but at the moment until Russia changes its attitude, it’s quite hard to see where we’re going to go.
“This is a country that killed someone in Salisbury.”
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