Royal Navy shadows three Russian ships by English Channel
The Royal Navy has shadowed three Russian ships through the English Channel.
British minehunter HMS Cattistock and a Wildcat helicopter were deployed on Wednesday to escort Russia’s Admiral Vladimirskiy – an oceanographic survey ship previously accused of involvement in an operation to map the UK’s critical undersea infrastructure – 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.”
The latest development in the Channel came as Russian officials met for US-led talks in Saudi Arabia, as the Trump administration pushes for a ceasefire in the Ukraine war.
Ahead of their first meeting in Riyadh on Sunday, Russia said its main objective in talks would be to secure a ceasefire in the Black Sea – which the White House said on Tuesday had been agreed by both Moscow and Kyiv.
While Ukraine said the ceasefire was effective immediately, Moscow said the deal would only come into force after a series of conditions were met – including the lifting of restrictions and sanctions on a major agricultural bank, exporters of food and fertiliser and on Russian vessels.
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Source: independent.co.uk
