The head of the Royal Navy has issued a stark warning that a specialist and highly secretive Russian submarine unit, dedicated to targeting vital undersea infrastructure, is likely heading back towards British waters.
The Hidden Threat Beneath the Waves
First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Gwyn Jenkins stated that while Russian spy ships like the Yantar are a visible presence, the greater danger lies submerged. "It's what's going on under the waves that most concerns me," he emphasised in a recent speech. The threat originates from the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research (GUGI), one of the most clandestine arms of Vladimir Putin's military.
GUGI's mission involves covert seabed operations to map and identify vulnerabilities in the network of telecommunications cables and energy pipelines that the UK and its allies critically depend upon. Admiral Jenkins, in an interview with the Financial Times, revealed that while Moscow had recent "issues" with the GUGI programme, it has now been "reset" and is expected to deploy again soon.
UK Response: The Atlantic Bastion Initiative
This anticipated return, Jenkins warned, would give Putin the "option for physical action" against essential national infrastructure. In response to this escalating threat, Defence Secretary John Healey announced a new multi-million pound high-tech task force on December 4.
Named Atlantic Bastion, this initiative will deploy Royal Navy warships and aircraft alongside autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence to protect undersea cables and pipelines from hostile interference. The government has noted a 30% increase in Russian activity off the British coast over the past two years, with the Yantar spotted twice in 2025 alone.
A Border on the Open Seas
Admiral Jenkins dismissed any notion of geographical safety, stating the UK "effectively" shares a border with Russia in the "open seas to our north." He cautioned that comfort drawn from being an island nation or from having Eastern Europe as a buffer is a "false comfort" and "misplaced complacency."
This warning follows a critical report last month from Parliament's Defence Committee, chaired by Labour MP Tan Dhesi, which blasted the government's lack of progress. The report concluded that the UK "lacks a plan for defending the homeland and overseas territory," noting that a promised "national conversation" on security and a proposed Defence Readiness Bill have yet to materialise.
The combined warnings from senior military and parliamentary figures underscore a pressing need to address vulnerabilities in the UK's maritime defence posture as covert underwater threats intensify.
