Britain says that the Russian spy ship has returned to British territorial waters, indicating a threat from the Kremlin

Britain warned Wednesday that it faces an increasing threat of aggression from Russia, confirming that a Russian spy ship had passed the English coast for the second time in three months, in the latest incident that appears aimed at testing Britain’s military capabilities.

John Healey, Britain’s defense secretary, told Parliament that two Royal Navy ships had been deployed for two days to monitor the passage of the Yantar, which he described as a Russian spy ship used to gather intelligence and map Britain’s vital underwater infrastructure.

This incident is the latest in a series of incursions by Russian ships and aircraft around Britain, and comes amid growing concern in Europe about threats to vital infrastructure and potential sabotage, with Western intelligence services warning of the Kremlin’s intention to punish Europe for its support for Ukraine. The Defense Secretary revealed on Wednesday that when Yantar was first discovered in British waters last year, a nearby British submarine was monitoring it.

While authorities have linked Russian intelligence services to acts of sabotage, arson and attacks across Europe in recent years, it is threats at sea that have generated the greatest concern and prompted the boldest responses. Last week, NATO announced that it would deploy warships, patrol aircraft and drones to protect critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea after several undersea cables were cut, apparently due to ships dragging their anchors along the sea floor.

Suspicions have been raised about ships linked to Russia and China, as well as European Union ships Surrounding a ship flying the Chinese flag For weeks and finland Seizing an oil tanker Which experts and officials said may be part of Russian efforts to avoid Western sanctions.

Russian naval ships have been carrying out missions near Britain and elsewhere for years. But Mr Healey on Wednesday provided an unusual amount of detail about the usually murky world of military surveillance, underscoring growing concern about Russian activity, particularly around vital underwater cables linking Britain to continental Europe.

“Russia remains the most pressing and pressing threat to Britain,” Mr. Healey said on Wednesday, adding that he wanted to send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We see you.” We know what you’re doing. “We will not be ashamed to take strong measures to protect this country,” he said.

Mr Healey also told lawmakers he had changed naval rules of engagement to allow the two British ships to approach and monitor the movements of Yantar, which has since departed for Dutch waters.

Healey said the Yantar was seen last November loitering over vital British undersea infrastructure, adding that on that occasion he had allowed a Royal Navy submarine to surface near the Yantar to prove it had been monitored.

The British said that the ship Yantar was accompanied at the time by the frigate Admiral Golovko and the support tanker Vyazma before the ships departed for the Mediterranean.

Yantar, which has been in service for about a decade, is a highly advanced spy ship, developed by the Russian Main Directorate for Deep-Sea Research specifically to search for important underwater cables, said Justin Crump, CEO of a private intelligence company. , Sibylline, who has been monitoring the ship for years. He said the ship is equipped with two independent submarines that can operate widely undetected.

Although the Yantar could be capable of sabotage, Mr. Crump said, the ship would likely be used to find cables and possibly eavesdrop on them to gather intelligence, perhaps mapping their locations for future operations.

“They put a lot of time, effort and money into developing these ships, which have a lot of great capabilities in this field,” he said. “In fact, in order to break down pipelines or cables, they realized they could just drag an anchor to the bottom of the sea.”

Although intelligence agencies and experts say cutting underwater cables falls within what is understood to be the Kremlin’s secret playbook, actually uncovering evidence linking Russia to recent events has proven difficult. The Kremlin denied involvement in the sabotage.

Finnish authorities announced on Wednesday that a preliminary investigation into the cutting of several important underwater cables last month was nearing completion, but said it would be too early to say whether any country was behind it. Investigators concluded that the detained oil tanker, the Eagle S, which left a Russian port shortly before the cables were cut, had dragged its anchor up to 100 kilometers across the seafloor, an action that experts said could not have been accidental. .

Shipping experts have identified the Eagle S as belonging to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, a group of old tankers that Moscow uses to secretly move crude oil around the world to fuel its war machine in Ukraine. The tanker and its crew are still detained in Finland.

Experts say that Russia has long shown interest in the Western submarine cable network. Over the past few years, Russian naval and commercial ships have spent time off the coast of Ireland, where bundles of submarine cables connect Europe and North America.

“What we don’t know is why they’re doing it,” said Elizabeth Brow, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who researches Russian maritime activity.

“Are they just pointing out that we can sit on top of submarine cables as much as we want, and you can’t do anything about it?” I asked. “Are they conducting reconnaissance for future actions they might want to take or are they engaging in some sort of aggressive activity?”?

Ms. Brau said there was not much countries could do about it, because international maritime law does not prevent Russian ships from operating in these areas.

Alastair Carmichael, the British MP who represents the islands of Orkney and Shetland, said: “Yantar’s activities may amount to an escalation.” But he added that he had been warning for nearly two years about Russian ships operating around the Shetland Islands north of mainland Scotland.

“This is a strategic threat to the UK as a whole, but it is particularly dangerous for our island communities that rely on cables for digital connectivity and energy,” he said in Parliament.

Britain has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters since Russia invaded in 2022, and tensions between London and Moscow rose last year when Ukraine opened fire. British Storm Shadow missiles To the Kursk region of Russia.

Amid escalating tensions last October, Ken McCallum, head of MI5, Britain’s internal security service, He said that Russian intelligence agents They were on a mission “to cause chaos in the British and European streets.” He accused the Russian military intelligence agency of “serious acts committed with increasing recklessness,” including cases of “arson, sabotage, etc.”

In April, British prosecutors charged five men with acting on behalf of Russia to carry out an arson attack on a Ukraine-linked company in Britain. Last fall, officials said fires at shipping facilities in Britain and Germany were caused by incendiary devices likely planted by Russian agents.

Britain has recently reported more overt Russian military operations. Last September, it said that British Typhoon aircraft scrambled to intercept two Russian Per-F aircraft operating near British airspace. It also said the British Navy had monitored four Russian ships, including a Kilo-class submarine, across the English Channel and the North Sea.

Joanna Limola He contributed reporting from Helsinki.