Russia is prepared to attack vessels that violate the country’s maritime border and illegally enter its territorial waters, a senior Russian military official said on Monday.
Speaking to the Federation Council, just two days after a Russian vessel reportedly gave chase to an American submarine in the Pacific Ocean, Stanislav Gadzhimagomedov revealed that the country’s armed forces could receive orders to retaliate should the integrity of nation’s territory be breached in the future.
Gadzhimagomedov is the deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff. The official noted, however, that any decision to fire would be taken at the highest level of authority, Russian publication Vedomosti reported on Monday.
The declaration was made in response to an incident that occurred on February 12, when the Ministry of Defense announced that an American nuclear submarine had been detected by Russia’s Pacific Fleet in national territorial waters off the Kuril Islands in the country’s Far East.