Overview

• The Royal Navy launched a four-day mission on June 20 to monitor Russian naval activity in the English Channel and North Sea
• Destroyer HMS Duncan and patrol ship HMS Mersey shadowed the corvette Boikiy at close range as it sailed eastward through UK waters
• BBC Verify determined that Boikiy broadcast a generic identification number 400000000 to disguise its true identity
• The corvette sailed alongside the shadow fleet tankers Sierra and Naxos, which carry oil barred under Western sanctions
• The operation builds on NATO cooperation that saw HMS Trent and Wildcat helicopters track frigate Admiral Grigorovich earlier in the deployment