Russians Deny Subs Are Prowling Coast

The Russian Navy denied Saturday that one of its submarines was operating off the coast of Washington state.

The denial came a day after the Pentagon confirmed an NBC News report that a Russian sub has been lurking off Washington state since October. From there it can electronically monitor the activity of Trident nuclear submarines.

The Russian Navy press office said that although Russian military vessels are on duty in various parts of the world, the reports that one of its submarines is off the U.S. West Coast are groundless.

The statement was carried by the ITAR-Tass news agency.

Cmdr. Steve Pietropaoli, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, said Friday that while the Navy saw nothing threatening about the Russian sub’s movements, its presence in the northeast Pacific fit an emerging pattern of such activities.

Pietropaoli acknowledged that U.S. submarines monitor Russian strategic ports. What’s notable now, he said, is that while the U.S. offshore monitoring never stopped after the Cold War ended, the Russians had stopped theirs.