John Healey, the defense secretary, said the vessels were gathering information about undersea pipelines, and said he believed President Vladimir V. Putin “would want us to be distracted by the Middle East.

British and Norwegian militaries led a weekslong operation to deter Russian submarines in the North Atlantic, the U.K. military said.

Russia deployed three submarines to spy on the UK’s critical undersea pipelines in the northern Atlantic, British officials revealed on Thursday. UK Defense Secretary John Healey called out Russian President Vladimir Putin as he accused the Kremlin of using three underwater vessels to gather information on Britain following previous sabotage attempts in Europe.

The Russian submarine shadowed by the Swedish Gripens was transiting the Kattegat, a strategic waterway linking the Baltic approaches with the North Sea