NATO Countries Reportedly Caught Russian Submarines Training To Disable Undersea Cables

A joint operation from NATO countries confronted Russian submarines training to deploy a secret weapon to disable undersea cables, according to a new report.

Reuters detailed that the operation, which involved the U.S., Norway and Great Britain and took place in the Arctic, confronted the Russian vessels and prevented them from completing the exercise. The outlet added that the operation had been addressed in April, but the discovery of the weapon and the location were not disclosed.

It is the latest round in the escalation between Russia and NATO countries over the past months. Last week, Germany announced that an attempted attack at Leipzig Airport in early August "fits the established pattern of Russian hybrid operations in Europe."

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt added that, as a result of the investigation, the country concluded that "Russia is responsible for the hybrid attack" and expects further attacks of the kind. Officials announced the closing of the Russian consulate in Bonn and the Russian House in Berlin.

Top European officials quickly came out to support Germany. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the "evidence is clear" regarding the attack and he welcomes the measures.

Russia, in turn, will shut down cultural centers belonging to Germany's Goethe-Institut in several cities. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any other response would show a lack of "self-respect" on the country's end, claiming that the decision will be the end of Berlin's "cultural presence in Russia."

Elsewhere, Norway last week seized a Russian research vessel over a compensation claim won by an Ukrainian energy firm. The Professor Molchanov was taken off the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. It is aimed at enforcing a compensation claim won by an Naftogaz over the seizure of assets following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014. The claim called for compensation of $4.22 billion.

Russian state agency TASS quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesperson calling the decision "piracy." Norwegian authorities said the governor of Svalbard "will take care ​of the crew and passengers on board the vessel in collaboration with Trust Arktikugol".

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to retaliate for such actions. A previous one took place in June when the French Navy, with support from the UK, intercepted an oil tanker under international sanctions that was heading to Moscow.

Putin called the seizures "nothing but piracy and robbery," adding that "if this is done, we will be forced to respond in kind."

He went on to say that Moscow's potential response may not take place with in the same waters where Russian vessels were seized, but in "any area where we see it as necessary and appropriate."