Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of a reserved demolition placed by the Russian Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research during their recent operations in wider UK waters on undersea cable infrastructure.

The Russian Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research (GUGI) is developing capabilities, deployed from submarines and specialist surface vessels, that are intended to be used to survey underwater infrastructure during peacetime, but then damage or destroy infrastructure in deep water during a conflict.

Earlier this year, the UK revealed we had responded directly to GUGI vessels operating near Allied critical undersea infrastructure. We take this threat extremely seriously. We closely track and monitor the activities of GUGI vessels and have military options ready to respond if needed.

There is currently no evidence to suggest any damage or interference with UK or Allied infrastructure.