Last Thursday, Barents Sea

Russian sailors discovered in the border waters an submarine of the Virginia class of the US Navy. The incident occurred on Thursday, August 7, in the Barents Sea, and the “expulsion” was carried out by the Northern Fleet's duty forces. This was now reported by the ITAR-TASS agency with reference to a "senior representative in the Main Staff of the Navy."

According to the agency’s source, the contact with the submarine lasted about 27 minutes, then Virginia left this area. For its “expulsion” from the Russian territory, the anti-submarine strike group and the IL-38 anti-submarine plane were involved .

Admiral Vyacheslav Popov commented on the incident to the publication “Foreign Economic Relations”: “As a rule, the press does not recognize such contacts. Since everything became known to a wide range of people, this is in order to show the US attitude to Russia. An unfriendly policy continues against us. ” He also said that the surveillance of US Navy submarines for the actions of the Russian Navy is not something exceptional, but rather, on the contrary, already a traditional phenomenon. Here nothing has changed since the USSR, but now we can talk about the more active actions of the NATO ships and submarines, including the United States.

The incident with Virginia is not uncommon, but such cases really do not usually get into the media. As an example, one can recall the situation similar to this, but exactly the opposite. In August 2009, the New-York Times appeared that two Russian nuclear submarines of the Schuka-B type perform a patrol mission off the eastern coast of the United States. According to the American military, one of them was 200 miles from the east coast of the United States, and the second was reported, went from the US coast south towards Cuba or went north. Then the American submarine history specialist Norman Polmar said : “Over the past 15 years, this is the first time that two Russian nuclear submarines have approached the American coast.” The New York Times emphasized that the emergence of Russian nucleas off the coast of the United States leads to memories of the Cold War when Soviet submarines carried constant duty in the Bermuda Islands. The leadership of the Russian Navy pretended to be surprised at the pentagon’s ignorance, a senior representative of the General Staff of the Russian Navy said that Russian submarines did not stop patrolling the waters of the World Ocean, their actions are simply closed and are not commented.

Similar incidents can have quite serious risks associated with navigation. For example, in 1992 there was a clash of the nuclear submarine of the US Navy Baton Rouge with a submarine of the Northern Fleet K-276 at the exit of the Kola Bay. In 1986, the nuclear submarine of the UK Navy collided with the Typhoon Northern Fleet’s missile submarine cruiser. The largest incident in Russian history related to underwater courts is the death of the Kursk atomic submarine in 2000. And then, as one of the first versions, a clash with the atomic submarine of the US Navy Toledo was called , however, the reason was different.

Virginia type submarines are a fourth -generation US Navy multi -purpose USL, which are designed to combat submarines at a depth and for coastal operations. Such a boat is equipped for special operations, its complete set includes uninhabited underwater devices, a locking chamber for searmers, a deck mount for a container or an ultra -low submarine.

As for the reaction of Russians to this incident, it is ambiguous. For some, this news was the reason for pride in the domestic fleet, for some-another attack of the United States on Russian territory, and for someone a new turn of military propaganda. “No need to us without an invitation, gentlemen! Read our fairy tales, we even traveled the stoves themselves, and Emelya just lay on that stove, but as he lay, ”user Marina Croutor writes on his page on the social network. “Another cheap attempt to take folk attention from the plum of New Russia,” says Ivan Konstantinov. “The Americans are probing, trying to find our weaknesses,” writes Zinaida Smelykova.

“It's time to minive the border in the water, leaving only shipping paths. This is not a lost walking boat, but a super modern military submarine with a navigation system and armed to the teeth and what they have on their minds ... If they violated the border, then it is unequivocally drowning - this is an armed violation of the border of the Russian Federation, ”says the user Ivan Khristoforov.