"Russian submarine limping home": Rutte mocks Russian submarine that broke down en route

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has mocked Russia over the malfunction of its submarine Novorossiysk, which surfaced near the coast of France a few days ago.

According to Reuters, last week, NATO’s Allied Maritime Command reported that the Novorossiysk had surfaced, sharing photos of the Russian submarine being escorted by a French frigate.

On Saturday 11 October, the Dutch Ministry of Defence said that the Dutch Navy had escorted the Novorossiysk and the tugboat Yakov Grebelsky in the North Sea – suggesting that the submarine was being towed.

Speaking in Slovenia on Monday, Rutte openly mocked the "broken" Russian vessel.

"Now, in effect, there is hardly any Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean left. There's a lone and broken Russian submarine limping home from patrol," Rutte said.

"What a change from the 1984 Tom Clancy novel 'The Hunt for Red October'. Today, it seems more like the hunt for the nearest mechanic," he added. [In this book, the Red October is the Soviet submarine – ed.]

Meanwhile, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet claimed that the diesel-powered Novorossiysk surfaced off the French coast to comply with navigation rules in the English Channel, carrying out a scheduled inter-fleet transit after completing its mission in the Mediterranean.

In December 2024, the Russian cargo vessel Ursa Major sank in the Mediterranean between the Spanish city of Águilas and Algeria’s Oran following an explosion on board.

According to OSINT analysts, the vessel – along with several others – had been intended for the evacuation of Russian bases in Tartus and Khmeimim, Syria.