The Royal Navy has shadowed three Russian ships through the English Channel, following warnings of possible attempts to map the UK’s critical undersea infrastructure.
British minehunter HMS Cattistock and a Wildcat helicopter were deployed on Wednesday to escort Russia’s Admiral Vladimirskiy – an oceanographic survey ship – as it travelled along the UK’s south coast.
The British minehunter worked closely with the helicopter to “keep a constant watch” as the Russian survey ship passed through the busy shipping lane, the Royal Navy said.
This operation was followed rapidly by another, as HMS Somerset and tanker RFA Tidesurge were deployed to escort Russian landing ship RFN Alexander Otrakovsky and merchant vessel MV Ascalon through the Channel and North Sea.
The pair of Russian ships were sailing towards the Baltic Sea and had recently left the Mediterranean.
These latest operations follow a similar mission last week which saw Royal Navy warships and helicopters track a Russian task group returning from Syria – where questions remain over the fate of Vladimir Putin’s prized foothold at the Tartous naval base, after Bashar al-Assad’s Moscow-reliant regime dramatically collapsed in December.
HMS Somerset has been activated to monitor Russian convoys returning from the Mediterranean three times in the past month alone and recently visited Aberdeen to refuel for their latest mission.
This latest interaction between the Royal Navy and a Russian survey ship comes just weeks after Britain’s defence secretary John Healey disclosed to MPs that another Russian survey ship – the Yantar – had been closely monitored by the Royal Navy after entering UK waters in both January and November.
“Let me be clear, this is a Russian spy ship used for gathering intelligence and mapping the UK’s critical underwater infrastructure,” the defence secretary told the House of Commons in January.
Revealing that he had changed the Royal Navy’s rules of engagement to allow British warships to more closely track Yantar, Mr Healey said: “I also wanted President Putin to hear this message: we see you, we know what you’re doing and we will not shy away from robust action to protect this country.”
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