Russian President Vladimir Putin is deploying nuclear-armed submarines “dangerously close” to the United States and European allies, a Senate Democrat said following a trip to the Arctic Circle.
“No one is suggesting that Putin is contemplating a nuclear launch against a NATO country, but it’s not clear how tethered to reality Putin is,” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy told reporters Monday. “And it should make us nervous that many of his submarines are starting to get dangerously close to the U.S. and our allies.”
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In recent years, Putin’s navy has pursued a more aggressive strategy even than during the Cold War, according to Murphy. “Russian submarines have been pushing out to the very precipice of NATO-ally waters,” he said. “We have seen Russian boats coming closer to the U.S. and to our European partner ports than ever before, in immensely provocative ways — in ways that were rare even during the days of the Cold War.”
Pentagon officials currently plan to scale back production of modern attack submarines in order to preserve funding for the Ohio-class submarines that carry nuclear weapons. “You’re going have to look at this program with a national lens because if you drop this into the middle of a Navy shipbuilding budget it will just gut Navy shipbuilding for decades to come,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told a House panel last week.
Full article: Dem says Russian subs ‘dangerously close’ to U.S. (Washington Examiner)
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