Philippine navy shadows Russian submarine spotted in SCS

Manila: The Philippine military deployed a navy ship and air force planes to shadow a Russian submarine, which passed through the South China Sea off the country’s western coast last week, a security official said on Monday.

The Russian submarine identified itself in response to a Philippine navy two-way radio inquiry, saying it was en route home to Russia’s eastern city of Vladivostok after joining an exercise with the Malaysian navy, Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general of the National Security Council, said. The submarine has the right of “innocent passage” in the country’s exclusive economic zone but it still sparked concern when it was spotted on Thursday about 80 nautical miles off the Philippine province of Mindoro,

Malaya said.