The British Ministry of Defense is investigating Tuesday, June 16, warning shots that a British-registered yacht sailing in the English Channel said were fired near it by a Russian warship. “We are investigating reports of an incident in the Channel,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
According to a source close to the British defense, a yacht reported warning shots fired by a Russian warship while sailing south of the Isle of Wight, and this is an isolated incident, unrelated to the interception on Sunday in the English Channel of a Russian ghost fleet tanker by France and the United Kingdom.
The alleged events took place about forty kilometers south of the Isle of Wight, outside British territorial waters.
The Russian warship, which was being monitored by a British naval patrol boat at the time of the incident, was about 450 meters from the yacht, according to the same source, and no injuries or damage were noted after a check-up on another military boat, the HMS Tyne.
British forces intercepted on Sunday, with the collaboration of France, the Russian ghost fleet tanker Smyrtos in the Channel, the “first operation of this type” after London authorized the boarding of these ships by its armed forces in March.
Tanker captain indicted
According to images released by the Ministry of Defense, naval commandos boarded the ship under cover of darkness by descending hanging on ropes from a helicopter.
Tanker captain Ajay Pant, an Indian national, was charged Monday with failing to comply with British sanctions against Russia’s shadow fleet, the Kingdom’s National Crime Agency said. United.
He appeared in court in Southampton, southern England, remotely from Bournemouth police station (south) on Tuesday and simply confirmed his identity and address in India. A hearing was set in Bournemouth for July 16, and he was remanded in custody until then. The ship remains anchored off the coast of Weymouth, Dorset.
