Russian spy ship detected off U.Ok. as British official warns Putin: “We all know what you are doing”

British Protection Secretary John Healey advised Parliament on Wednesday the Royal Navy was monitoring a “Russian spy ship” that handed by U.Ok. waters, warning Russia’s President Vladimir Putin: “We all know what you are doing.”

Healey mentioned the Yantar vessel was being “used for gathering intelligence and mapping the U.Ok.’s important underwater infrastructure.”

“I additionally needed President Putin to listen to this message: We see you, we all know what you are doing and we is not going to shrink back from strong motion to guard this nation,” he advised lawmakers.

The ship entered British waters on Monday about 45 miles off the nation’s coast, with the Royal Navy dispatching two vessels to observe it, Healey mentioned.

“It was detected loitering over U.Ok. important undersea infrastructure,” the protection minister mentioned.

He added the ship was now within the North Sea, “having handed by British waters.”

Healey mentioned a Royal Navy submarine was approved to floor near the Yantar “strictly as a deterrent measure” and “to clarify that we’ve got been covertly monitoring its each transfer,” BBC Information reported.

Healey mentioned it was the second time the Yantar had been detected in British waters just lately, after it was additionally noticed in November.

British warships have tracked Russian navy vessels on a number of events in current months.

Earlier this month, the Royal Navy revealed that in late December the frigate HMS Somerset had tracked a Russian naval group because it sailed from the North Sea to the English Channel, though the group had stayed in worldwide waters.

In November, British jets have been scrambled to observe a Russian reconnaissance plane flying near U.Ok. airspace, simply days after NATO jets have been mobilized when Russian plane have been noticed over the Baltic Sea and off the coast of Norway.

In September final yr, Royal Navy warships spent every week “intently shadowing” 4 Russian vessels in U.Ok. waters, whereas two Royal Air Power jets scrambled to intercept two Russian plane working close to the U.Ok., the navy mentioned in a press launch.

Additionally in September, the U.S. Coast Guard mentioned that it tracked a group of Russian naval vessels, together with two submarines, as they crossed into U.S. waters off Alaska in an obvious effort to keep away from sea ice.

The month earlier than that, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter on routine patrol round Alaska’s Aleutian Islands got here throughout a Russian ship in worldwide waters however throughout the U.S. unique financial zone.