A Russian warship fired warning shots on Tuesday June 16 in the English Channel at a yacht sailing under the British flag which was approaching it “dangerously” according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, leading the British authorities to open an investigation.
The incident involved the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich and a British-registered yacht about 20 nautical miles (about 40 km) south of the Isle of Wight, just outside British territorial waters, a British defense source said.
“After attempts to make contact with a British ship in the English Channel, the Grigorovitch fired warning shots. These were not directed against the ship and were aimed at preventing a possible collision,” said the British Ministry of Defense, which had previously said it was investigating “reports of an incident in the Channel”.
According to the ministry, this is an “isolated” incident, unrelated to the interception on Sunday by British commandos of an oil tanker suspected of being part of the Russian ghost fleet in the same area of the Channel. The event also coincides with the summit in Evian, France, of G7 leaders, who agreed Tuesday to step up pressure on Russia to end more than four years of war in Ukraine.
According to the British defense source, the Russian frigate appeared to be “drifting rather than under propulsion, which may have made it feel more vulnerable.” According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the incident occurred on Tuesday “at 12:45 p.m.” and “to attract the attention of the yacht’s crew, flares and sound signals were launched.”
“Despite these measures, the vessel continued to approach dangerously. When the distance (between the two ships, Editor’s note) fell below 150 meters, the commander of the frigate decided to preemptively open fire on the ship with small arms,” added the Russian ministry. “The yacht (…) then immediately changed course. »
No injuries
For its part, the source close to British Defense indicated that the Russian warship, which was monitored by a British naval patrol boat at the time of the incident, was located approximately 450 meters from the yacht. No injuries or damage were noted after a monitoring visit to another military boat, the HMS Tyne, added the same source.
The yacht “was absolutely not on a collision course” with the frigate, Jane Kelvey, a British retiree on board with her husband Alan, assured the BBC. “It wasn’t an incident before the gunfire started,” she added. The Telegraph reported in May that Admiral Grigorovich had been patrolling off the British coast for almost two months, escorting tankers in the English Channel belonging to the Russian ghost fleet – used to circumvent sanctions.
The British navy previously said it had deployed several patrol boats to monitor the ship, saying there was “not a single day” in April when the frigate was not “closely monitored.” According to her, Admiral Grigorovich was escorting Russian-flagged ships “to and from the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Baltic.”
British forces intercepted on Sunday in the Channel, with the collaboration of France, the tanker Smyrtos suspected of belonging to the Russian ghost fleet, the “first operation of this type” after London authorized in March the boarding of these ships by its armed forces.
