The United Kingdom has warned it is ready to use “military options” if necessary after a Russian spy ship that has spent weeks on the edge of British waters directed lasers at British pilots sent to monitor the vessel.
In a speech in London on Wednesday, British Defence Secretary John Healey condemned the Yantar’s actions against royal air force (RAF) pilots as “deeply dangerous” and said Britain is poised to react depending on the vessel’s next move.
Statements by UK Defense Secretary John Healey about the threat allegedly posed by the Russian vessel Yantar are leading to a deterioration in European security, the Russian embassy to London said in a statement.
"With its Russophobic course and escalation of militaristic hysteria, London is contributing to the further degradation of European security and creating conditions for new dangerous situations," the statement noted. "We urge the UK to refrain from taking steps that exacerbate the crisis in Europe," the embassy said.
GR
FR
DE
ES
IT
RU
EU
On November 19, while speaking on Downing Street, Healey said that the UK was preparing a military option in case Russia’s Yantar oceanographic research vessel, currently north of Scotland near the UK border, changed course and began to pose a threat to the country.
ReplyDeleteThe defence secretary said a UK naval frigate and RAF P-8 planes had been deployed to monitor the ship, which is designed for intelligence gathering and mapping undersea cables, as it sailed in waters north of Scotland.
ReplyDelete“My message to Russia and to [President Vladimir] Putin is this: We see you. We know what you’re doing. And if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready,” Healey said.
“This is the first time we’ve had this action from Yantar directed against the British RAF. We take it extremely seriously,” he added.
The Yantar, which is designed to conduct surveillance in peacetime and sabotage during times of war, according to British officials, also investigated the UK’s defences in January as it sailed through the English Channel.
ReplyDeleteThe royal navy dispatched two vessels to monitor the spy vessel, which Healey said was “loitering over UK critical undersea infrastructure” before it departed for the Mediterranean.