Britain’s Defence Secretary lambasted the Kremlin last night after a Russian ‘ghost fleet’ ship fired lasers at an RAF plane.
John Healey also confirmed he has provided British pilots with more robust guidance to counter such threats following a dramatic showdown in the North Sea.
He fired a verbal warning shot across Vladimir Putin’s bow as fears were raised that the Yantar ship – part of a so-called Russian ‘ghost’ fleet – has been targeting cables and pipelines.
The ghost fleet consists of ordinary looking ships that Russia claims are research vessels, but are in fact bristling with surveillance equipment and carry manned and unmanned submarines.
Mr Healey said yesterday: ‘As I speak, a Russian spy ship, the Yantar, is on the edge of UK waters north of Scotland having entered the UK’s wider waters over the last few weeks.
‘My message to Russia and to Putin is this – we see you. We know what you’re doing. And if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready. We have military options ready.
‘We deployed a Royal Navy frigate and a RAF P-8 plane to track the vessel’s every move, during which the Yantar directed lasers at our pilots. Anything that impedes, disrupts or puts at risk pilots in charge of British military planes is deeply dangerous.’
This incident is understood to be the first time a Russian spy ship has used lasers against the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force.
Fears were raised that the Yantar (pictured, right) ship – part of a so-called Russian ‘ghost’ fleet – has been targeting cables and pipelines
The devices can cause permanent damage to pilots’ eyesight, while experts suggest Russian industrial-strength lasers could burn holes in aircraft.
Mr Healey added that the threat to service personnel is being taken ‘extremely seriously’.
While the Yantar looks innocuous as it is not equipped with weapons, the spy ship is among Russia’s most effective military assets.
It masquerades as a oceanographic research vessel and is packed with surveillance equipment. The ship can also launch remotely operated vehicles capable of severing underwater cables.
The 112ft-long Yantar entered service in 2012. It has been seen in the UK’s wider waters and in Ireland’s economic exclusion zone. This month it was escorted from Dutch and Belgian waters. A Royal Navy submarine, HMS Astute, surfaced near the Yantar earlier this year in a warning to its crew.
UK military chiefs have repeatedly warned any strike against this country’s internet and communication cables would be ‘catastrophic’. Fibre-optic cables span the globe and Nato has military cables on the ocean floor.
The UK operates around 60 undersea cables connecting the country with the US, Scandinavia and mainland Europe.
Defence expert Professor Michael Clarke told Sky News yesterday: ‘The submersibles Yantar can launch could be surveying cables and pipelines, they could be laying charges. Pipelines are different and don’t have back-up. Cables may not be so difficult.
The ghost fleet consists of ordinary looking ships that Russia claims are research vessels, but are in fact bristling with surveillance equipment and carry manned and unmanned submarines
‘Russia is building another of these ships. They are very sophisticated.’
In recent months other Russian ghost fleet, or non-military vessels, have been identified monitoring areas of the UK coastline where these cables make landfall.
Mr Healey’s new guidance, known as Rules of Engagement, will permit ships and aircraft to follow the Yantar more closely when it is in the British economic exclusion zone – outside UK territorial waters.
The Yantar is operated by Russia’s highly secretive Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research, or GUGI, which is responsible for surveying Western maritime assets in peacetime and sabotaging this infrastructure during war.
The Russian Embassy last night accused the UK Government of pursuing a ‘Russophobic path’ and indulging in ‘military hysteria’.
Kremlin diplomats denied they were studying the UK’s undersea cables and warned Britain was risking further destabilisation of European security through its remarks.
The continuation of the Yantar’s reconnaissance campaign in the North Sea and other waters comes after multiple Russian incursions into Nato airspace in recent months.
More than 20 Russian drones have entered Polish airspace, some
John Healey also confirmed he has provided British pilots with more robust guidance to counter such threats following a dramatic showdown in the North Sea
travelling more than 100 miles within the country, Russian warplanes have invaded Estonian airspace and Kremlin drones have shut down continental airports.
And this month UK drone specialists were deployed to Belgium to counter a threat to its airspace, thought to come from Russia.
n THE UK lacks a plan to defend itself against Russia despite the increasing likelihood of an attack, MPs have warned.
The stark words by MPs on the Commons Defence Select Committee were seconded by Sir John Sawers, the former head of MI6, who also said the UK is not ready to face the Russian threat.
Labour MP Tan Dhesi, the committee’s chairman, said: ‘Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, unrelenting disinformation campaign and repeated incursions into European airspace mean that we cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand.’
