Rishi Sunak was briefed by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) after a Russian submarine, Kazan, was sighted off Scotland’s west coast last week near Britain’s naval base at A meeting with the Prime Minister was called when Kazan, which did not enter UK waters, was identified by an RAF Poseidon P8 anti-submarine aircraft as it passed Ireland on 5 June as part of routine monitoring.
The nuclear-powered submarine left the Cuban capital of Havana on Monday along with other Russian navy vessels after a military drill in the Caribbean over the weekend.
Both the US and Cuba played down the threat posed by the stopover, which was widely seen as a Russian show of force amid continued high tensions over the Ukraine war.
A US intelligence officer told CBS, the BBC’s North American partner, that Kazan was not carrying nuclear weapons.
It comes as Vladimir Putin will pay a “friendly state visit” to North Korea for the first time since 2000 on Tuesday and Wednesday – marking an extremely rare trip that underscores Moscow’s burgeoning partnership with the reclusive nuclear-armed state.
The visit was confirmed by the Kremlin and North Korean state media on Monday after Kim Jong Un initially extended the invite to the Russian president during a visit to Russia’s Far East last September.
He will then travel to Vietnam for a two-day visit dedicated to advancing Moscow and Hanoi’s “comprehensive strategic partnership”, after an invitation from Nguyen Phu Trong, the state’s communist party chief.
The Telegraph
