Royal Navy ships have been sent to monitor a "spy ship" from Russia which entered British waters earlier this week, according to the defence secretary John Healey.
Healey told the Commons: "The foreign ship Yantar is currently in the North Sea having passed through British waters. Let me be clear, this is a Russian spy ship used for gathering intelligence and mapping the UK's critical underwater infrastructure." Following this, two Royal Navy vessels were sent to monitor the ship. "Yantar entered the UK exclusive economic zone about 45 miles off the British coast on Monday," said Healey.
He added: "For the last two days the Royal Navy has deployed HMS Somerset and HMS Tyne to monitor the vessel every minute through our waters."
According to the politician, it's not the first time the vessel has entered UK waters. "In November, the ship was also closely watched and detected loitering over UK critical undersea infrastructure. To deter any potential threat, I took measured steps," he said.
Healey added: "I can confirm to the House that I authorised a Royal Navy submarine, strictly as a deterrent measure, to surface close to the Yantar to make clear that we had been covertly monitoring its every move.
"The ship then left UK waters without further loitering and sailed down to the Mediterranean."
It comes after Germany dispatched a drone dubbed 'Blue Whale' in order to counteract Russian and Chinese saboteurs in the Baltic Sea.
Germany, along with other Nordic and Baltic states, has become increasingly threatened about hostile Chinese and Russian activity in the Baltic, the Telegraph reports.
In November 2024, authorities blamed a Chinese vessel after two fibre optic marine cables from Finland to Germany were cut. In October 2023, when a Chinese ship hit a gas pipeline Beijing said the damage was due to the captain accidentally dragging his anchor on the seabed. Estonia’s defence minister slammed this excuse as “difficult to understand”.
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