Washington, August 06: The Pentagon says Russian submarines patrolling off the US east coast do not pose any threat to the US, as long as they “behave in a responsible way.”
“So long as they are operating in international waters — as, frankly, we do around the world — and are behaving in a responsible way, they are certainly free to do so and it doesn’t cause any alarm within this building,” AFP quoted Press Secretary Geoff Morrell as saying at a Pentagon news conference on Wednesday.
Morrell had earlier said that the submarines were several hundred miles (kilometers) off the eastern coastline.
The US official said he was unsure if Moscow gave Washington advance notice but the US military “had the means to derive where they were going.”
“While it is interesting and noteworthy that they are in this part of the world, it doesn’t pose any threat and it doesn’t cause any concern,” he noted.
Morrell acknowledged that US submarines operate off the Russian coast “from time to time” as well, in international waters.
The New York Times first reported the presence of two Russian nuclear-powered, Akula-class submarines off the American coast, the first such move in years that echoed Cold War era tensions.
Russia has neither confirmed nor denied that its submarines are patrolling near the US territory.
—–Agencies