Russia’s veiled threats against the UK feel more tangible in Helensburgh, the Scottish coastal town nestled close by one of Britain’s most important military sites.
Residents walking along the seafront are well aware that the UK’s nuclear-armed submarines slide silently up and down its open waters.
HMNB Clyde, better known as Faslane, is home to the submarines that carry the Trident weapons system, the nation’s nuclear deterrent.
The huge naval base is just five miles along the road from Helensburgh, a town containing around 15,000 people, including military families and retired personnel.
Anti-nuclear campaigners argue that Faslane makes this part of Scotland – just 25 miles away from Glasgow – a target for attacks.
However, the majority of people in Helensburgh who spoke to The i Paper are supportive about the need for the nuclear naval base. There is enthusiasm about £15bn of planned upgrades to Faslane over the next 10 years, with the hope that the town can get a knock-on economic boost.
‘I assume the military’s on top of anything suspicious’
When it comes to the heightened threat from Russia, there is mix of feelings among local people, ranging from calm to defiant to uneasy.
Billy McBain, 58-year-old Helensburgh resident, worked at Faslane for many years. He retired as a Royal Navy engineer in 2013.
“It is worrying, the increase threat from Russia,” McBain said. “But there’s only a minute chance of attack against us. The whole point of the nuclear deterrent is that it keeps the whole country safe.”
Billy McBain, 58-year-old former Navy engineer, enjoyed his years at Faslane (Photo: Robert Perry)“I enjoyed my years there,” McBain added on Faslane. “The expansion is good [for Helensburgh] – it would be a bit of ghost town if it wasn’t for the base.”
Sharon Harvey, a 67-year-old Helensburgh resident, said: “The stability of the leaders we have now, Putin and Trump, is worrying, I suppose.
“But I don’t think about it [the Trident nuclear deterrent] as a big threat. It has to go somewhere – so I’m happy for it to be here.”
Sharon Harvey, 67-year-old Helensburgh resident, she’s aware of people taking photos when walking her dog on the seafront (Photo: The i Paper)“When I walk the dog along the sea front, you’re aware of visitors that are talking lots of photos,” added Harvey.
“I sometimes joke with friends, ‘Do you think the military are aware of this?’ I just assume they’re on top of anything really suspicious.”
Faslane ‘absolutely not off limits’ to Russia
Vladimir Putin’s veiled threat against the UK has heightened concerns that Russia could target British factories creating drones for Ukraine.
The possibility that Moscow might disrupt sites in Britain is a “military secret”, said the Russian leader.
Lord West of Spithead, the former First Sea Lord, said drone facilities are currently “more at risk” of cyberattacks, sabotage and espionage than major military bases like Faslane.
“But we have to be wary of grey zone hybrid activity,” the ex-Navy chief told The i Paper.
“Russia is always prodding and probing, and Faslane is one of the key places they might want to prod and probe at. If Putin thinks he could get away with some sabotage there, I’m sure he love to do that.”
HMS Vigilant, one of the UK’s nuclear warhead-carrying submarines, at the Faslane base (Photo: Danny Lawson / PA Wire)Ed Arnold, defence expert and senior associate fellow at Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said: “The key military sites [like Faslane] are absolutely not off limits. The Russians would be interested in any way they can to prevent the site from operating as it should.
“If there’s a higher risk for sabotage or espionage, there’s an argument that people in Helensburgh need to be quite vigilant or suspicious of odd behaviour,” Arnold added.
The number of security incidents at Faslane rose from 16 in 2021 to 149 last year, according to Freedom of Information data obtained by LBC earlier in 2026.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has not revealed details. Security incidents can include lost ID and other documentation issues, The i Paper understands.
Philip Ingram, a former senior British military intelligence officer, said he hoped the increase was a “reflection of the heightened state of alert” as more security checks are done.
“We have to be wary of cyberattacks, sabotage, and good old-fashioned espionage and spies that could compromise people working at Faslane,” he said.
Ingram urged people in Helensburgh to be “wary”, adding: “If there’s new people behaving suspiciously, they should report it. The threat is very real.”
‘Terrifying to think nuclear subs are there’
Mark Stewart, a 57-year-old anti-war campaigner who lives opposite Faslane’s security gates, thinks about the nuclear threat every day.
He is one of a handful of activists who have been living at Faslane Peace Camp, a collection of caravans and shacks across the road from the base, which have been occupied since 1982.
The former engineer from Newcastle came about a year ago to help revive the camp after numbers dwindled. “I’d had enough of the system,” he said.
“It’s a strange part of the world – like heaven and hell,” Stewart added. “It’s beautiful, but it’s also terrifying to think nuclear submarines are there.
“All the Russia talk makes things feels scarier than it has for a while. It makes Faslane more of a risk than ever.”
Mark Stewart and Siobhan Donald at the Faslane Peace camp near Helensburgh (Photo: Robert Perry)Siobhan Donald, 25, moved to the camp about six months ago. “I don’t like the nukes being there at all,” she said.
“I don’t think they should be in Scotland – it makes us a target. But I don’t want them anywhere. The Russia stuff is frightening, that the two sides are creating this heightened threat.”
Nuclear naval base ‘adds a bit of excitement’
Some Helensburgh residents are relaxed about the apparent rise in tensions. Cathy, a retiree in her early sixties, is not worried about Moscow-directed dirty tricks.
“You’d have to be a pretty stupid Russian spy to come here to try to break into Faslane.”
Cathy moved to the area with her husband about six years ago. “It didn’t put us off. It’s a beautiful part of the world, and it’s interesting to be close to the submarines.
“It adds a bit of excitement,” she joked. “I’ve always thought that if Russia was to bomb us, we’d all be gone in an instant, we’d all be doomed anyway. So I don’t worry about it.”
The SNP has said it would seek to negotiate for the removal of Trident from Faslane in an independent Scotland, while still supporting Nato’s mission.
SNP councillor Math Campbell- Sturgess said that the Faslane naval base remains ’very much part and parcel of the community’ (Photo: Robert Perry)Math Campbell-Sturgess, SNP councillor for Helensburgh and Lomond South, said that the Faslane naval base remains “very much part and parcel of the community”.
And councillors want local businesses “to get as much of an economic boost as possible” from the coming modernisation of the base.
“Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, people are concerned – you can’t not be,” he added.
“But no more concerned than anywhere else. People are so accustomed to the stand-off since the Cold War, so they’re not alarmed by everything Putin says.”
Alex Gallacher, 68, who retired to Helensburgh a couple of years ago, is not alarmed at all. “I’m very cynical about all this Russia threat stuff.
There’s a lot of sabre-rattling going on, but not much substance to any of it. It’s bulls***,” he added. “I’m more worried about the cost of living, about homelessness, about poverty.”
An MOD spokesperson said the security of Faslane “is of the utmost importance and security measures are continually reviewed”, adding: “Due to the sensitive nature of the site we do not comment on specific measures or incidents.”
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