LONDON — Britain’s Defense Ministry has launched an investigation after a U.K.-registered yacht reported being fired upon by a Russian naval vessel in the English Channel on Tuesday.
According to the ministry, the yacht reported that a Russian warship fired warning shots from approximately 500 yards — or about 460 meters — away. The encounter took place roughly 20 miles, or about 30 kilometers, south of the Isle of Wight, in waters beyond the United Kingdom’s territorial boundary.
No one aboard the yacht was injured, and the vessel sustained no damage. The Russian government had not responded to requests for comment as of the time of the report.
British media identified the Russian vessel as the frigate Admiral Grigorovich. Russian warships traveling through the English Channel are typically shadowed by the Royal Navy, and the patrol vessel HMS Mersey was already keeping watch on the Russian ship when the reported incident unfolded.
The episode came just two days after British commandos boarded and seized a sanctioned tanker in the Channel suspected of belonging to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet.” Officials have stated they are not connecting the two incidents.
The captain of that tanker — an Indian national accused of transporting Russian oil in defiance of international sanctions tied to Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine — was ordered held in custody following a court appearance on Tuesday.
This latest incident is part of a broader pattern of tense encounters between British and Russian forces in the region. In November, the British military put Moscow on notice that it was prepared to respond to any intrusion into its territory, after the Russian spy ship Yantar was spotted near the edge of U.K. waters north of Scotland.
Then in April, Britain and Norway announced they had spent several weeks tracking a Russian attack submarine and two spy submarines operating north of the United Kingdom. A Royal Navy frigate, supporting aircraft, and hundreds of personnel were involved in the operation. Then-Defense Secretary John Healey said the effort successfully stopped the Russian vessels from carrying out “nefarious” activities targeting underwater infrastructure.
Healey also accused Moscow of exploiting the distraction created by the Iran war to escalate its hostile activities against Europe.
The current incident echoes a similar event from five years ago, when Russia claimed one of its warships fired warning shots and a military aircraft dropped bombs in the Black Sea to drive away the British destroyer HMS Defender from waters near Crimea that Moscow considers its own territory. The United Kingdom rejected that account, denying its ship had been fired upon. It marked the first time since the Cold War that Russia acknowledged deploying live ammunition to warn off a NATO warship — an episode that unfolded roughly six months before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
