Russian Submarines off U.S. East Coast Spark Cold War Comparisons

Russian Submarines off U.S. East Coast Spark Cold War Comparisons

 Isabel van Brugen

The growing presence of Russian submarines off the coast of the United States has sparked Cold War comparisons from military observers and a retired NATO admiral.

The Russian military has undergone a sweeping modernization drive after it was forced to abandon many new ships following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Russian navy now commands one of the most diverse submarine fleets in the world, with an estimated 58 vessels. Some of them are capable of carrying ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, which Moscow considers key to its strategic deterrent.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been set on expanding Russia's underwater capabilities. Over the past several years, Moscow has been producing a series of submarines that have the capability to reach the most critical targets in the U.S. or continental Europe.

The Russian leader said in December his country would be building more nuclear-powered submarines that "will ensure Russia's security for decades to come." Meanwhile, a Kremlin document signed by Putin in 2017, which lays out the Russian navy's improved capabilities, its evolving strategic and operational role, and its future ambitions, states the nation "must possess powerful balanced fleets in all strategic areas" by 2030.

Amid the arms reforms, there have been deployments of Russian submarines that mirror Soviet-style submarine deployments in the Cold War, Newsweek has been told.

Michael Petersen, director of the Russia Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College, which conducts research on Russian military and economic issues linked to the world's oceans, told Newsweek that there are indications that "nuclear-powered submarines have been deploying off the coast of the United States and into the Mediterranean and elsewhere along European periphery."

They "mirror Soviet-style submarine deployments in the Cold War," said Petersen, who is also a professor at the staff college in Rhode Island.

Russia is the "critical challenge" that the United States faces today, he said, responding to remarks made by U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, the head of U.S. Northern Command and NORAD, who previously characterized Russia as the primary threat to the country due to the presence of its nuclear-powered Severodvinsk-class submarines near the U.S.

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