ST. PETERSBURG. Oct 30 (Interfax) - Russian submarines have traveled to the Barents and Norwegian Seas during a routine exercise, an informed source told Interfax.
"The Russian military is conducting a routine operative combat training exercise," the source said, commenting on a report of the Norwegian television and radio company NRK alleging that ten Russian submarines, including eight-nuclear-powered ones, are being used in an operation in the Northern Atlantic whose purpose is to practice breaking through the NATO defense and approaching the eastern coast of the United States undetected.
"There is a lot of false information in this report," the source said.
NRK earlier on Wednesday reported on a large operation conducted by Russian submarine forces. The company's sources in the Norwegian reconnaissance said it is not an exercise but one of the largest Russian submarine operations since the times of the Cold War, which is aimed at demonstrating the capability to threaten the eastern coast of the United States.
NRK reported, citing Norwegian intelligence, that the operation involves up to ten Russian submarines, of which eight are nuclear-powered. The task of the submarines is to go as far into the Atlantic as possible without being detected, the report said.
The Russian submarines are practicing breaking through the NATO anti-submarine defense line in the Northern Atlantic between Greenland, Iceland, and the UK and reaching remote areas of the Atlantic undetected, NRK said.
Sources in the Norwegian reconnaissance said the Russian submarines are being closely tracked. The number of flights of patrolling anti-submarine aircraft of the Norwegian Air Force, which take off from the Andoya air base in the northern part of the country, has been increased for these purposes.