Secret Russian Submarine Operation in the High North

Most of the submarines of Russia's Northern Fleet have for the past week tried to sail out from their bases on the Kola Peninsula and into the Barents and Norwegian Seas without being discovered, according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

This represents the biggest Russian submarine operation since the early 1990s and the days of the Cold War, and the Norwegian intelligence services emphasize to NRK that this is not a drill, but rather an operation do demonstrate military strength.

The operation commenced early last week and was thus underway when Norwegian and Russian Foreign Ministers Ine Eriksen Søreide and Sergey Lavrov met in Kirkenes last week. The intelligence services say they have "fairly good control" over where the submarines are located at present, and the position of several of the submarines are known.

The whole operation is meant to last at least 60 days.