Moscow: Russia claimed on Saturday that its anti-submarine destroyer chased a US submarine near the Kuril Islands. Moscow claimed that it acted on the submarine to force it to leave Russia's territorial waters, Agence France-Presse reported.
However, the United States defence denied Moscow's claims.
The Russian defence ministry said that Marshal Shaposhnikov destroyer spotted a US Navy Virginia-class submarine in the Russian territorial waters while the former was engaged in planned military drills. The US submarine was detected near the Kuril Islands in the northern Pacific, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, the US craft refused to surface after the Russian military's demands. Therefore, their military acted accordingly, and the US submarine turned tail, the ministry said. It has not revealed further details but said that it had summoned the US defence attache in Moscow regarding the incident.
The US military responded to Russian claims through its statement that there is no truth. But, a spokesperson for the US Indo-Pacific Command, Captain Kyle Raines, said that he could not reveal the precise locations of the US submarines, but the US military does fly, sail and operate safely in international water.
The Russian claims come when tensions regarding the Ukraine border crisis are high, and the US has taken the stand that Russia must de-escalate and ditch any intentions of invading Ukraine. Recently, it's found that Moscow had deployed heavy troops along Ukraine borders.
The Kuril islands were controlled by Russia, and the alleged incident took place near Urup, one of the islands.