NATO allies step up efforts to counter Russian submarines as US role recedes

NATO allies are stepping up efforts to counter Russia's nuclear-capable submarines in the North Atlantic as the US takes a less prominent role in the alliance's military activities in the region, Politico reported Saturday.

During the alliance's annual Northern Viking exercise last month, German surveillance aircraft, Canadian warships and Belgian fighter jets operated off Iceland to practice detecting and tracking submarines.

For the first time in decades, however, no US ships or aircraft took part in the maritime operation, the report highlighted.

The exercise, led by French Rear Admiral Nicolas Molitor, was aimed at demonstrating that European allies and Canada can maintain security in the strategically important North Atlantic even without direct US military leadership.

"We see Europe and Canada stepping up, and we see it literally here in Iceland," Iceland's defense chief Jonas Allansson reportedly said.

Iceland lies near the strategically important Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom, or GIUK, Gap, a key maritime passage used by Russian submarines to enter the Atlantic from bases on Russia's Kola Peninsula, the report said.

"For NATO and for Russia, this is really a dividing line," a senior NATO official reportedly said. "For the Russians, if they can control access to that gap, and get their submarines on the other side of it, then they've got free reign of the Atlantic and can hold bases on both sides of the Atlantic at risk."

The report said that some NATO allies are increasingly concerned not only about Russia's nuclear and conventional military capabilities but also about threats to critical undersea infrastructure, including internet cables and pipelines.

German Navy Commander Peter Flohr stressed the importance of protecting such infrastructure.

"Every Amazon order you do in Germany runs through these cables," he said. "So we need to keep a constant eye on them."

The US has not completely withdrawn from Iceland. American personnel are helping build new military facilities at Keflavik airport and are contributing to planning for the exercise.

But the absence of US ships and aircraft marks a notable shift from previous years, the report said.