Overview
- HMS Severn tracked the Russian corvette RFN Stoikiy and the fuel tanker Yelnya through the Strait of Dover before handing monitoring to a NATO ally off Brittany and continuing to observe from distance.
- The UK Ministry of Defence reports a 30% increase in Russian naval operations around UK waters over the past two years.
- Britain has deployed three RAF Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to Iceland under a NATO mission to watch for Russian ships and submarines in the North Atlantic and Arctic.
- Days earlier, Defence Secretary John Healey condemned as dangerous the reported use of lasers by the Russian spy ship Yantar against RAF surveillance near Scotland.
- The Russian Embassy in London rejects the UK’s depiction of the threat, as British leaders point to recent encounters to argue for higher defence spending ahead of the new budget.