Royal Navy warship shadows Russian vessel through UK waters

A Royal Navy warship has shadowed a Russian task group as it sailed through the English Channel and the North Sea.

HMS Somerset kept watch over the Russian corvette Boikiy for three days as it escorted merchant vessel Baltic Leader on its voyage from Syria.

The cargo ship was transporting military hardware from the Russian naval base in Tartus, Syria, with crew on the accompanying warship seen burning papers and manning the ship’s machine guns, the Times reported.

A Royal Navy spokesman said: “The British Type 23 frigate utilised its powerful sensors and radars to report on Russian movements, launching her Merlin helicopter from 814 Naval Air Squadron to gather valuable information from the sky.

“The ship worked hand in hand with UK patrol aircraft and allied Nato forces during the operation, providing constant watch on the task group.”

The spokesman said the operation began on March 1 as the Russian warship headed south through the North Sea and English Channel to meet Baltic Leader to escort the vessel back to Russia.

HMS Somerset then shadowed the Boikiy for the return journey after the vessel met Baltic Leader at Ushant, near France.

Commander Joel Roberts, commanding officer of HMS Somerset, said: “Somerset is well versed in the escort of Russian ships, having conducted these operations on a number of occasions.

“Great professionalism has been shown by the ship’s company to remain vigilant whilst operating in UK waters and integrating with our Nato allies to monitor Russian activity around Europe.”

The Plymouth-based warship was previously deployed alongside patrol ship HMS Tyne to track suspected Russian spy vessel Yantar in January.

And the operation comes two weeks after HMS Iron Duke, HMS Tyne and RFA Tideforce monitored five ships, including three merchant vessels, as they sailed for a Russian Baltic port from Syria.