RUSSIA has revamped its most feared deep-sea sabotage unit, the Royal Navy’s chief has warned.
General Sir Gwyn Jenkins said Moscow was “regenerating” its Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research.
The unit, known as GUGI, controls a fleet of spy ships and sabotage subs with claws that can map and cut undersea cables.
In his first public comments as the new First Sea Lord, Gen Jenkins said Russia had continued to invest in its northern fleet, despite the ongoing war with Ukraine.
He added: “We are seeing their latest submarine deploying and the regeneration of their GUGI capability.”
Vladimir Putin recently boasted that his subs were “under the Arctic ice” so they “disappear from radar”.
He claimed the subs were Russia’s “military advantage”.
And in a sinister reference to GUGI’s real missions, the Kremlin tyrant said research “among other things in this area” was extremely important to Moscow.
Gen Jenkins was speaking as Britain signed a £10billion deal with Norway to sell them five specialist sub-hunting frigates.
He said GUGI had gone “quiet for a while”, but warned: “It appears to be coming back.”
He insisted Britain and its allies still had the military edge, citing co-operation with the US and Norway.
But he said: “The Russians are showing us we have no room for complacency.”
Nato allies use devices strung along the sea floor to detect Russian subs passing Greenland, Iceland and the UK.
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