The UK's navy intercepted two Russian ships in the English Channel, British defense officials said Sunday. The HMS Severn intercepted the RFN Stoikiy, a corvette, and the Yelnya, a tanker, as the vessels were passing through the Strait of Dover into the Channel, the BBC reports. After the initial interception, officials said, the Severn handed over monitoring to a NATO ally off the coast of Brittany, France, while continuing to observe the Russian ships from a distance. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary John Healey said there's been a 30% increase in Russian vessels threatening UK waters over the past two years.
The Severn's commanding officer said the operation reinforced the Navy's close cooperation with NATO allies. He said it also shows the importance of patrol ships, per the Independent. Healey told reporters last week that the Russian spy ship Yantar had aimed lasers at the pilots of surveillance aircraft monitoring its activities off the coast of Scotland, which prompted a warning to Russia. The UK has deployed three P-8 Poseidon aircraft to Keflavik airbase in Iceland for what officials described as surveillance on NATO's behalf.
The British navy's rules of engagement have been updated to allow for closer monitoring of Russian vessels, per the BBC. The Stoikiy had been tracked in British waters before, and the navy shadowed it in May with ships and aircraft as it went through the channel. The Severn is a River-class offshore patrol vessel designed for tasks such as escorting foreign warships, inspecting fishing vessels, and defending UK border.
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