A Russian naval frigate fired warning shots at a British-flagged yacht in the English Channel on Tuesday morning, after the civilian vessel drifted toward the warship in what appeared to be an unintended close encounter.
According to Telegraph, the incident took place at around 11:40 a.m., approximately 20 nautical miles (about 37 km) south of the Isle of Wight. The British coastguard received reports from the yacht intended for personal use, after it drifted too close to the Admiral Grigorovich, a Russian Black Sea Fleet guided-missile frigate.
JOIN US ON TELEGRAM
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
According to Telegraph’s sources, the Russian ship issued several warnings to the yacht not to approach, before ultimately opening fire. No injuries or damage were reported, and the civilian vessel continued its journey through the Channel.
Two Royal Navy River-class patrol vessels, HMS Mersey and HMS Tyne, had been secretly following the Grigorovich through the Channel since Monday, before the warning shots were fired on Tuesday. A sea boat from HMS Tyne visited the yacht to check on the civilians on board and to collect details from the incident, with the Ministry of Defence spokesman confirming the military was “investigating reports of an incident in the Channel.”
Telegraph’s military sources said the shooting was not connected to a separate British operation against a Russian tanker Smyrtos, two days earlier.
Months of defiance in British waters
Reportedly, the Grigorovich has been operating near British waters since April, escorting more than a dozen sanctioned Russian shadow tankers through the Channel. Previously, the vessel was found loitering near the Galloper wind farm off the Suffolk coast – a development that has triggered a NATO monitoring mission.
Sybiha, Egypt’s Abdelatty Discuss War, Grain, Peace at G7
Despite Starmer pledging in March to go “even harder” after Russia’s shadow fleet, the Royal Navy conducted no interceptions during that period. Government sources cited legal and operational complications, such as potential asylum claims from merchants and the risk of confrontation with Russia’s heavily armed frigate.
Royal Marines board Russian tanker for first time
Only two days before Tuesday’s warning shots, British forces carried out a “historic” operation in the same waters.
In the early hours of Sunday, June 14, marines from elite 42 Commando boarded onto the Smyrtos – a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker sailing under a Cameroonian flag – following a six-hour operation personally ordered by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The vessel, which departed from Russia’s Ust-Luga port on June 5, carried more than 700,000 barrels (about 111,291 liters) of sanctioned oil and entered the Channel on Saturday before being intercepted in international waters.
The operation was carried out in close cooperation with French forces, and with the support of Chinook, Merlin Mk4, and Wildcat helicopters and RAF P-8 reconnaissance aircraft, HMS Sutherland and HMS Ledbury.
An Indian national, aged 38, was arrested on suspicion of violating sanctions, while 24 crew members from Georgia and India remained on board to assist the investigation.
The Symrtos was anchored off Weymouth, on England’s south coast, with Russia condemning the operation as “state piracy.” At the same time, Zelensky welcomed it, urging further action against the shadow fleet.
“This successful operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fueling Putin’s war in Ukraine that we will not let them hide,” Starmer said.According to The Telegraph, the UK has sanctioned nearly 600 Russian shadow fleet vessels in an attempt to reduce the sale of Russian oil on global markets.
Arson, sabotage and a pattern of intimidation
The Channel confrontations come amid reports of suspected Russian hybrid warfare activity on British soil, including an arson attempt targeting a property linked to Starmer, that investigators now describe as a part of a broader Russian sabotage and disinformation operation directed from Moscow.
According to the BBC, Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Ukrainian-born Romanian citizen Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, have been convicted at the Old Bailey of conspiring to commit arson on Starmer’s property, while the third man connected to the arson, Petro Pochynok, 35, was found not guilty. The attacks last year in north London set fire to a Toyota RAV4 previously owned by Starmer, as well as entrances to his two properties.
“Russia is quite literally on our doorstep. Aggression and intimidation in our waters must not be tolerated,” warned the Liberal Democrat defense spokesman James MacClearly.
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
