The UK and Norwegian militaries led an operation to deter Russian submarines suspected of “malign activity” in the north Atlantic, the British defence secretary said on Thursday.

John Healey said a frigate, planes and hundreds of personnel monitored a Russian attack sub and two spy submarines near undersea infrastructure north of the UK.

He said the Russian vessels eventually left after the operation that lasted more than a month.

Healey said his message to Russia was “we see your activity over our cables and our pipelines and you should know that any attempt to damage them will not be tolerated and will have serious consequences.”

British officials have tried to keep Russia in the international spotlight even as the world’s attention is focused on the conflict in the Middle East.

They have also stressed the overlap between wars there and in Ukraine, saying Russia has supplied Iran with drone parts and other support. Tehran has backed Moscow in its all-out war in Ukraine, providing it with its Shahed drones, now also made in Russia under the designation Geran.

Healey told a news conference that “Putin would want us to be distracted by the Middle East,” but Russia is the main threat to the UK and its allies.

“We will not take our eyes off Putin,” he said.

In late March, the UK said its military was ready to seize ships suspected to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” of vessels shipping oil in violation of international sanctions over Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

Previously, Britain had only helped France and the US monitor ships before they were boarded.

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