Russian attack submarine in waters off Philippines sparks unease, but Manila downplays sighting
Officials say the Russian vessel was not in Philippine territorial waters during its maritime exercise with the Malaysian navy
The Philippines has downplayed the threat and significance of a Russian attack submarine reported in waters considered to be within Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general and spokesman of the National Security Council (NSC), on Monday said the submarine was spotted, challenged and trailed but at no point did it enter the country’s territorial waters.
He said on a state media channel: “Let me just emphasise, this part where [the sub] was spotted isn’t the territorial sea of the Philippines. It was in the high seas, in our exclusive economic zone. So technically it was exercising freedom of navigation.”
Filipinos woke up on Monday to sketchy news reports of the Russian vessel’s passage, amid maritime tensions that have already been brewing with China. Credited to anonymous “security sources”, the reports contained full descriptions of the vessel – the Ufa, a 4,000-tonne Kilo-II class attack submarine.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr earlier told reporters at an event that the news was “very concerning”, calling “any intrusion in the West Philippine Sea or of our EEZ or our baselines is very worrisome”.
Malaya told reporters, “as the president said, we’re very concerned about the presence of a Russian attack submarine in our exclusive economic zone. That’s why we sent assets [which challenged the sub by radio], asking what it was doing in our EEZ.”
