A Russian anti-submarine destroyer chased off a U.S. submarine near the Kuril Islands, forcing it to leave the country's territorial waters, Moscow said Saturday, amid raging tensions over Ukraine. The Russian Navy is conducting exercises in this area.
The submarine was spotted during Russian naval exercises and it was ordered to surface immediately, Interfax quoted the Defense Ministry as saying.
A Russian ship, the frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov of the Pacific Fleet, used "appropriate means" against the submarine after which it left Russia's territorial waters, according to the official report.
When the submarine ignored demands to surface, the crew of the frigate "used appropriate means" and the U.S. submarine left at full speed, the ministry said, without providing further details.
The ministry also said it had summoned the U.S. defense attaché in Moscow over the incident.
"In connection with the violation by the U.S. Navy submarine of the state border of the Russian Federation, the defense attaché at the U.S. embassy in Moscow was summoned to the Russian defense ministry," the defense ministry said.
Russia accused Washington of breaking international law and creating a national security threat. It summoned the U.S. military attache, who was handed a note saying that similar situations in the future were unacceptable.
The incident came at a time of high tensions between Moscow and Washington over a Russian military buildup near Ukraine.
The Pentagon says there is "no truth" to a claim by the Russian Defense Ministry that an American nuclear-powered submarine entered Russian territorial waters near the Kurile Islands.
The United States did not carry out operations in Russian territorial waters, U.S. military spokesman Captain Kyle Raines said in a statement quoted by Reuters.
"There is no truth to the Russian claims of our operations in their territorial waters," Raines said. "I will not comment on the precise location of our submarines, but we do fly, sail, and operate safely in international waters,” Pentagon’s responded to Russia’s claims that U.S. submarine did not respond to requests for it to surface.