SpaceWar.com reports: “Russia on Thursday denied ever targeting underwater communications cables, a day after London accused a ‘Russian spy ship’ of passing through British waters and issued a direct warning to President Vladimir Putin.

Britain said on Wednesday that its Royal Navy had tracked the ship about 45 miles (72 kilometres) off its coast, saying the vessel was being used for ‘gathering intelligence’ and had been mapping critical underwater infrastructure.

The accusations come with concern about the sabotage of underwater communications links between NATO countries, blamed on Russia.

In a statement cited by Russian state news agencies, Moscow’s embassy in London said: ‘The accusations made by the British defence establishment against Russia of creating some kind of threat to the underwater communications of the country and its NATO allies are absolutely untenable. Such threats never come from Russia.’

It accused London of ‘inflaming tensions’ in the Baltic and North Sea…”