A Scottish fishing boat skipper Angus Macleod has reported a terrifying brush with what is believed to be a rogue Russian submarine inside British waters in the North Sea.
Macleod said he and his four crew were “extremely lucky” to survive the incident in which his net was dragged in front of his 62ft trawler.
He has claimed that the submerged object almost pulled the boat and crew under the waves and his boat Aquarius was nearly dragged to a watery grave.
“It was not a whale - we have had whales in the nets before and the net is all twisted afterwards. Whatever it was, was human powered, of that we are convinced”
Experts say it was “very likely” that Russian submarines would be prowling the shores ahead of planned British war games.
The Royal Navy has said there were no British or NATO submarines in the area at the time. In recent months it has been alleged that Russian submarines have been operating in British waters.
In recent days, there have been fears that Russian nuclear submarines may be operating off the coast of Scotland.
Two months ago the Ministry of Defence was forced to call for US military assistance to help track a suspected Russian submarine spotted off the Scottish coast.
Last November, Britain was forced to call in NATO sea patrol planes to hunt for a suspected Russian submarine off Scotland, after the Government scrapped its own similar aircraft in defence cuts.
In January the Royal Navy was forced to call on two US Navy-operated P3 Orion aircraft to hunt for a Russian nuclear submarine which was reported to be ‘spying’ on the movements of Trident submarines leaving the Faslane base.