Foreign submarines spotted during Russian Pacific naval exercises

The Russian Navy has detected foreign submarines keeping a lookout during the exercises of the Russian Pacific Fleet, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, said.

"We spotted foreign submarines watching our exercises on Saturday in the Primorye (Maritime) Territory near Nakhodka, and today we detected them near Kamchatka," he told reporters. He did not rule out that the submarines could be American.

Since the U.S. Navy had refused to sent its official observers for the exercises, the admiral believes that the submarines are a kind of "unofficial observers." "We took no actions against the submarines, for they did not enter Russia's territorial waters," Kuroyedov said.

Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said earlier that Russia had invited military observers from all the neighbouring countries. In his view, the observers could see for themselves that Russia had no aggressive intentions.