Randy Boswell – U.S. officials expressed concern Tuesday about the presence of two nuclear-powered Russian submarines off the U.S. east coast — just weeks after two Russian subs cracked through the ice near the North Pole and successfully test-fired two long-range missiles.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the submarines along the U.S. shore were involved in the mid-July exercise near the pole, but Russia’s embassy in Ottawa told Canwest News Service this week that the missile tests have “nothing to do with” asserting control over the disputed central Arctic Ocean.

And the Canadian government — despite Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s recent grumblings about a planned Russian parachute mission to the North Pole next spring — downplayed the Russian tests, too, saying the Arctic missile firings were “monitored by NORAD” and were “not considered a threat to Canada.”

The activities of Russian military submarines have caught the attention this week of U.S. defence officials and security analysts, who first voiced concerns to the New York Times about the unusual presence of two Russian subs in waters off the U.S. east coast.

“Any time the Russian Navy does something so out of the ordinary, it is cause for worry,” an unnamed U.S. Defense Department official told the newspaper.

The comments prompted a flurry of news coverage late Tuesday about the submarines and other recent demonstrations of Russia’s renewed military presence internationally.

The July 13-14 missile tests in Arctic waters were confirmed this week by a spokesman with the Russian embassy in Ottawa.

In an e-mail to Canwest News Service, Sergey Khudyakov said the tests were conducted with “strict respect” to protocols governing such military operations by members of the global “missile club” of nations.

“The targets of those launches were on the Russian soil, and not in the Arctic,” he added.

Russia’s state-owned news agency RIA Novosti has published details about the mid-July test by submarines “located under ice floe near the North Pole.”

Two Sineva missiles, each capable of carrying several nuclear warheads and striking targets thousands of kilometres away, reached their intended destinations at weapons-testing sites on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s far east and along the White Sea near Russia’s eastern border with Finland, RIA Novosti reported.

Khudyakov noted that seabed boundaries now being drawn in the Arctic under a UN treaty have “yet to be prepared within the framework of international law.”

He said Russia “would welcome joint efforts of legal experts of our two countries in this process,” and emphasized: “The (missile) tests have nothing to do with this process.”

Asked about Canada’s reaction to the Arctic missile tests, a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson told Canwest News Service: “Through NORAD, Canada and the U.S. monitor all missile launches globally and assess threats to North America. This missile launch, which occurred in international waters, was monitored by NORAD and was not considered a threat to Canada.”

The Arctic missile launches occurred about two weeks before news emerged last week of the planned Russian paratrooper drop, described by Russia as a “solely symbolic” celebration of a Cold War feat by two Soviet scientists 60 years ago.

MacKay, however, reacted sharply to the proposed anniversary tribute, to be conducted next April in a mission led by Artur Chilingarov — the Russian politician and polar scientist who often serves as Moscow’s pointman on Arctic issues.

MacKay suggested Canada would scramble fighter jets to “meet” any Russian aircraft “approaching” Canada’s airspace.

“We’re going to protect our sovereign territory,” he said Friday in Halifax.

“We’re always going to meet any challenge to that territorial sovereignty,” MacKay added, “and I can assure you any country that is approaching Canadian airspace, approaching Canadian territory, will be met by Canadians.”

Earlier this week, Khudyakov responded to MacKay’s comments, expressing confusion about Canada’s concerns over the ceremonial parachute jump.

Noting that the North Pole lies below “international airspace” and is “far from territorial waters of any state,” Khudyakov stated: “It is not quite clear why the plans to celebrate the anniversary could cause any concerns at all.”