Russian High North Akula & GUGI Submarine Hijinks

Thursday, April 9th, 2026, brought an interesting BBC live coverage to my attention, featuring a media briefing by the UK Defence Secretary John Healey, where he disclosed that:

The UK tracked a recent Russian Navy submarine clandestine operation “in and around British Waters” for over a month. Three Russian submarines were highlighted: an Akula SSN and two “GUGI” spy submarines. The Akula trolled NATO defences to distract them away from the two spy submarines as they "spent time over critical infrastructure."

Healey reported "No evidence that there has been any damage" to cables and pipelines of UK subsea infrastructure.

Healey addressed President Putin directly, saying, “We see you, we see your activity over our underwater infrastructure. ”

(Wiki file) HMS St Albans returns to Devonport, UK, on April 2, 2026. (Image: Tom Leach for Navylookout.com).
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The UK Royal Navy (RN) deployed: the Type 23 frigate HMS St Albans; the Tide-class tanker/support ship RFA Tidespring; and Merlin helicopters. While RAF P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPAs) maintained 24/7 tracking. This was alongside NATO Allies, with Norway specifically mentioned.

Undersea cables (red) and oil/natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines (purple) around the UK. (Graphic: BBC)
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Following up on the UK Defence Secretary’s press briefing, the Barents Observer stated that the Royal Norwegian Navy participated with an ASW frigate, other warships and P-8 MPA, confirming that the covert operation was by Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research (GUGI). 

GUGI is a secretive Russian naval unit focused on deep-sea operations, to map, monitor, and potentially disrupt undersea infrastructure like cables and pipelines. Based mainly in Olenya Bay (aka Olenya Guba) Northern Russia, it serves as a critical, high-priority asset for both surveillance and potential sabotage in European waters.

Declassified satellite image of Olenya Bay. (Image: UK MOD)
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GUGI was established in the 1960s. In the 21st century, GUGI became known in naval circles for operating Russia’s ‘special mission submarines" and intelligence ships, including the Yantar intelligence ship, the K-329 Belgorod and BS-64 Podmoskovye nuclear mothership submarines and the AS-31 Losharik deep-diving small nuclear research submarine. 

 BS-64 Podmoskovye. (Image: thebarentobserver.com)
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Navylookout.com, in its coverage on this operation, specifically mentions BS-64 Podmoskovye (wiki file) was reported by Norwegian OSINT sources to have left Olenya Bay in mid-February 2026 and returned to base sometime before April 8th. So BS-64 likely was one of the "GUGI submarines" mentioned in the briefing. While the second boat could have been the Losharik or a smaller Paltus-class nuclear mini-submarine (and see) deployed by BS-64.