The Royal Navy has intercepted and closely monitored Russian vessels transiting the English Channel, sending what UK officials described as a clear warning to Moscow that its naval movements are being tracked.
Patrol ships HMS Mersey and HMS Severn, supported by a Wildcat helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron, shadowed the Russian corvette Boikiy and the oil tanker MT General Skobelev during a two-day operation carried out in coordination with NATO allies. The vessels were first intercepted as they entered the Channel, with UK forces taking over monitoring duties from allied warships that had tracked them through the Bay of Biscay.
UK Armed Forces Minister Al Carns said the operation demonstrated Britain’s readiness to «track, deter and defend» whenever Russian ships approach UK waters. The Russian vessels, returning from a Mediterranean deployment, were escorted into the North Sea before monitoring was handed back to a NATO ally. The operation follows heightened UK and allied efforts to counter Russia’s naval activity and disrupt its sanctioned «shadow fleet» used to transport oil revenues.
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