Russian spy ship discovered off UK as UK official warns Putin: ‘We know what you’re doing’

British Defense Secretary John Healey told Parliament on Wednesday that the Royal Navy was tracking a “Russian spy ship” that had passed through British waters, warning Russian President Vladimir Putin: “We know what you are doing.”

Healey said the Yantar ship was “used to gather intelligence and map critical underwater infrastructure in the UK”.

“I also wanted President Putin to hear this message: We see you, we know what you are doing, and we will not be shy about taking strong action to protect this country,” he told lawmakers.

Healy said the ship entered British waters on Monday, about 45 miles off the country’s coast, where the Royal Navy sent two ships to monitor it.

The Defense Secretary said: “It was discovered loitering above critical undersea infrastructure in the UK.”

He added that the ship is now in the North Sea “after passing through British waters.”

Healey said a Royal Navy submarine had been allowed to surface near Yantar “strictly as a deterrent measure” and “to make it clear that we were secretly monitoring her every movement”. BBC News reported.

Healey said this was the second time a Yantar had been discovered in British waters recently, after it was also spotted in November.

British warships have tracked Russian naval ships on several occasions in recent months.

Earlier this month, Royal Navy revealed In late December, the frigate HMS Somerset tracked a Russian naval group as it sailed from the North Sea to the English Channel, although the group remained in international waters.

in november, The British planes took off To observe a Russian reconnaissance plane flying close to UK airspace, just days later NATO aircraft were mobilized When Russian planes were spotted over the Baltic Sea and off the coast of Norway.

In September last year, Royal Navy warships spent a week “closely monitoring” four Russian ships in UK territorial waters, while two Royal Air Force aircraft scrambled to intercept two Russian aircraft operating near the UK, the Navy said in a press release. .

Also in September, the U.S. Coast Guard said it had tracked A A group of Russian naval shipsIncluding two submarines, as they crossed into US waters off Alaska in an apparent attempt to avoid sea ice.

The month before that, a US Coast Guard ship conducted a routine patrol around Alaska’s Aleutian Islands Encountered a Russian ship In international waters but within the exclusive economic zone of the United States.