The United Kingdom warned it is prepared to use “military options” if necessary after a Russian spy ship that has spent weeks near British waters directed lasers at Royal Air Force pilots sent to monitor the vessel.
In a speech in London, Defence Secretary John Healey condemned the actions of the Yantar as “deeply dangerous” and said Britain was ready to respond depending on the ship’s next moves. He said a Royal Navy frigate and RAF P-8 aircraft had been deployed to monitor the vessel as it sailed in waters north of Scotland.
“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. He described the laser incident as the first time the Yantar had directed such action against the British RAF and said it was being taken “extremely seriously.”
Healey said he had changed the navy’s rules of engagement to allow closer monitoring of the ship’s activities and repeated that “we have military options ready should the Yantar change course.”
British air and naval forces routinely shadow potential threats near the country’s territorial waters and airspace. Incursions by Russian vessels and submarines have become more frequent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Russian embassy in London rejected Healey’s accusations, accusing the British government of being “Russophobic” and “whipping up militaristic hysteria.” Moscow said its actions did not affect UK interests and were not aimed at undermining British security, adding it was not interested in British underwater communications and urging Britain to avoid “destructive steps.”
British officials say the Yantar is designed for intelligence gathering and mapping undersea cables and can conduct surveillance in peacetime and sabotage in wartime. The vessel previously investigated UK defences in January while transiting the English Channel; the Royal Navy dispatched two vessels to monitor it after it loitered over critical undersea infrastructure before heading to the Mediterranean.
Concerns about underwater threats have grown amid accusations that Kremlin-linked ships, including parts of a so-called shadow fleet of sanctions-evading tankers, have targeted pipelines and cables as a form of hybrid warfare. In December, Finnish authorities seized a Russia-linked ship on suspicion it had intentionally damaged an undersea power cable between Finland and Estonia.
Healey’s warning came as he argued for increased defence spending ahead of Britain’s budget announcement on November 26, citing threats from Russia, China and Iran. In June, the UK pledged to raise defence spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035, up from about 2.3 percent last year. As part of a 1.5-billion-pound investment plan, Healey said the UK intends to develop 13 potential munitions and explosives manufacturing sites and create more than 1,000 jobs.
“This is a new era of threat. It demands a new era for defence, an era of hard power, strong allies and of sure diplomacy,” Healey said. “And as the threat grows, Britain must step up, and we are.”