Author: John Ireland
PARIS, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Russia’s investment in its Northern Fleet has not diminished despite years of conflict in Ukraine, Britain’s top naval commander said on Tuesday, adding that the response to Moscow’s aggressive posture was a test for Western powers.
“Russia’s investment in its Northern Fleet, particularly its underwater capabilities, has not diminished,” Admiral Gwen Jenkins, First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy, told the French think tank IFRI Naval Conference in Paris.
“Despite Russia’s crippling invasion of Ukraine, which cost the country resources and blood, they continue to pour resources into the Northern Fleet and its underground capabilities,” he said.
Jenkins, who spoke alongside senior naval chiefs from the United States, France, Italy and the Netherlands, said Russia’s activities were testing Western capabilities, given the long time it takes to upgrade, build and develop new ships in a rapidly changing technological environment.
“It doesn’t take a lot of assets to anchor us as an ally because our risk tolerance for allowing radical actors to operate in our backyard is very low, and that does require a lot of resources to deal with it,” Jenkins said.
Vice Admiral Harald Liebregues, commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy, echoed Jenkins’ comments, saying Russia was becoming increasingly bold in the North Sea and prowling critical infrastructure and may be preparing for further action.
“We’re seeing ships flying drones over our territory, we’re seeing the Shadow Fleet or Dark Fleet that is powering Russia’s war economy, using ships that are poorly maintained, uninsured and causing all kinds of liability problems in our precious North Sea,” he said.
“I think the takeaway here is that we shouldn’t accept this as the new normal because it returns us to a situation where we have less freedom of action and therefore creates a less appropriate strategic position.”
(Reporting by John Ireland; Editing by Sudip Ka-Gupta)
