A Royal Navy patrol ship has intercepted two Russian vessels off the UK coast, the Ministry of Defence has said.
It comes after Defence Secretary John Healey announced last Wednesday that lasers from Russian spy ship the Yantar were directed at RAF pilots tracking it, in an attempt to disrupt the monitoring.
The MoD said on Sunday that in a “round-the-clock shadowing operation”, the Royal Navy ship HMS Severn has intercepted Russian warship RFN Stoikiy and tanker Yelnya off the UK coast in the past fortnight.
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The Russian vessels sailed through the Dover Strait and westward through the English Channel, the MoD said.
HMS Severn later handed over monitoring duties to a NATO ally off the coast of Brittany, France, it said, but continued to watch from a distance and remained ready to respond to any unexpected activity.
The ministry added that the UK’s armed forces are on patrol “from the English Channel to the High North” amid increased Russian activity threatening UK waters.
Last week, Russia accused the British government of “provocative statements” after the defence secretary warned the Yantar was nearing the UK.
At a news conference in Downing Street on Wednesday, Mr Healey said the spy ship was on the edge of British waters north of Scotland, having entered wider UK waters over the last few weeks.
He said it was the second time this year the Yantar had been deployed off the UK coast and he claimed it was “designed for gathering intelligence and mapping our undersea cables”.
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Mr Healey said the ship had “directed lasers” at pilots of a P-8 surveillance aircraft monitoring its activities – a Russian action he deemed “deeply dangerous”.
In a clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the defence secretary said: “We see you. We know what you are doing. And we are ready.”
The ministry said while tracking the Yantar, Royal Navy frigate HMS Somerset and other civilian ships in the area “experienced GPS jamming in a further demonstration of unprofessional behaviour, intended to be disruptive and a nuisance”.
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Russia’s UK embassy dismissed the accusations and insisted the Yantar is a research ship in international waters.
The defence secretary also repeated government plans to increase defence spending and work with NATO allies to bolster European security.
And he stressed how plans to buy weapons and build arms factories will create jobs and economic growth.
A report by a group of MPs, also released on Wednesday, underlined the scale of the challenge the UK faces.
It accused the government of lacking a national plan to defend itself from attack.
The Defence Select Committee also warned that Mr Healey, the prime minister and the rest of the cabinet are moving at a “glacial” pace to fix the issue and are failing to launch a “national conversation on defence and security” – something Sir Keir Starmer had promised last year.
The UK has seen a 30% increase in Russian vessels threatening UK waters in the past two years, according to the MoD.
But the ministry maintained the UK has a wide range of military options at its disposal to keep UK waters safe.
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Three RAF P-8 Poseidon aircraft have deployed to Keflavik Air Base in Iceland in the largest overseas deployment of the RAF P-8 fleet so far, the MoD said.
They are conducting surveillance operations as part of NATO’s collective defence, patrolling for Russian ships and submarines in the North Atlantic and Arctic.
The operations come just weeks after HMS Duncan tracked the movements of Russian destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov, and frigate HMS Iron Duke was dispatched to monitor Russian Kilo-class submarine Novorossiysk.
