Britain’s response to Russian ‘spy ship’ is game of political messaging –for now

Deteriorating security environment and incidents in Baltic have forced military reassessment in northern Europe

Submarines normally operate in secret, lurking in the deep. So when the British defence secretary, John Healey, authorised a Royal Navy Astute-class attack sub to surface close to the Russian spy ship" Yantar south of Cornwall in November, it was unusual enough.

What was even more notable, however, was that the minister went on to tell the House of Commons on Wednesday what he had done. It was, Healey said, conducted strictly as a deterrent measure", as was his decision to accuse the Kremlin of spying on the location of undersea communication and utility cables that connect Britain to the world.