Russian Navy Refutes Claims of Submarine Emergencies Near French Coast

On Monday, Russia’s Navy refuted allegations that one of its submarines had to surface off the coast of France last week due to purported technical difficulties.

Last Thursday, NATO reported that the French Navy had observed a Russian submarine surfacing near France’s northwestern coastline, following indications that the stealthy diesel-electric attack submarine Novorossiysk might have suffered a fuel leak in the Strait of Gibraltar at the end of September.

The Black Sea Fleet of Russia dismissed these allegations as untrue, asserting in a statement published by state news outlets that the Novorossiysk experienced no malfunctions and surfaced in the English Channel in compliance with international navigation regulations while returning from a scheduled mission in the Mediterranean.

The Novorossiysk, which became part of the Black Sea Fleet in 2024 after being commissioned a decade prior, is a modern iteration of the Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine and is armed with Kalibr cruise missiles. It operates more quietly than most of Russia’s nuclear submarines and is mainly intended for operations in shallower waters near its home bases.

French media noted that the Novorossiysk had been previously sighted off the coast of Brittany in 2022.

Defense analysts theorized that the submarine could have been involved in intelligence collection or covertly transporting personnel and equipment through the Strait of Gibraltar, which serves as the sole maritime connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.