Russia says it does not threaten undersea cables after UK raises alarm

LONDON (Reuters) - The Russian Embassy in London said that Russia posed no threat to undersea cables in Britain and other NATO countries, after UK defence minister John Healey accused Moscow of "malign activity" at sea.

Britain said on Wednesday it had monitored a Russian spy ship in the English Channel for two days and would strengthen its response to secret operations by Russian ships in an effort to protect undersea cables.

The same ship had been caught "loitering" over Britain's critical undersea infrastructure weeks before, Healey said.

"We will continue to call out the malign activity that Putin directs, cracking down on the Russian shadow fleet to prevent funding for his illegal invasion of Ukraine," he said in a written statement on Wednesday.

Russia said the allegations were without foundation.

"Claims by @DefenceHQ (the X handle for Britain's Ministry of Defence) regarding alleged Russian threats against underwater infrastructure of the UK and its NATO allies are completely groundless," Russian Embassy, UK, said on X on Friday.

"Russia has never posed such threats."

Worries over the potential sabotage of power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines have been growing after a string of outages in the Baltic Sea following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Philippa Fletcher)