Russian ‘spy ship’ is detected off Irish coast

The Royal Navy is tracking a Russian spy ship straying close to undersea cables in the Irish Sea than 24 hours after RAF jets were scrambled to monitor a Russian reconnaissance plane flying close to UK airspace. The Yantar, billed by Moscow as an ‘oceanographic research vessel’, was one of three Russian vessels sailing through the Channel in recent days. But as it headed toward British shores, the research craft turned off its transponder – erasing it from commercial marine tracking systems. Yesterday it briefly appeared some 60 kilometres off the coast of Ireland before disappearing again, raising fears it was operating above vital undersea cables responsible for connecting Britain and Ireland and carrying the UK’s digital data.

Despite its official status as a research vessel, a Russian parliament publication previously said the Yantar carries technology ‘designed for deep-sea tracking, as well as equipment for connecting to top-secret communication cables’. The Royal Navy dispatched HMS Cattistock to shadow the vessel while the RAF sent a Poseidon P8 reconnaissance plane to track its movements. Meanwhile, two Typhoon fighter jets from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland followed a Russian Tupolev-142, a maritime reconnaissance aircraft known as the ‘Bear-F’ in NATO countries, as it flew over the North Sea yesterday. ‘Our adversaries should be in no doubt of our steadfast determination and formidable ability to protect the UK,’ said armed forces minister Luke Pollard.

‘The Royal Navy and RAF (Royal Air Force) have once again shown they stand ready to defend our country at a moment’s notice and I pay tribute to the professionalism and bravery of those involved in these latest operations,’ he added. The RAF scramble to intercept the Bear-F came days after the Royal Navy was forced to shadow Russian military vessels passing through the Channel that were accompanied by the Yantar. It was the second time in three months that Russian ships and aircraft had been detected around UK airspace and waters within a week of each other.

Incidents involving Russian and Western aircraft have multiplied over the recent months against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine . Earlier this week, Vladimir Putin ‘s most modern frigate passed through the English Channel on its maiden long-distance voyage. The Admiral Golovko, the newest member of Russia’s Northern Fleet, is armed with hypersonic Tsirkon missiles. These projectiles can travel some 900km at several times the speed of sound, making it almost impossible for conventional air defence systems to shoot them down.

The warship, one of 10 planned for production as part of Russia’s Project 22350, left its Arctic home base in Severomorsk almost two weeks days ago and sailed through the Barents, Norwegian and North Seas before heading for the Channel. ‘The crew of the Admiral Golovko frigate of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet held exercises in the English Channel,’ said Russian defence ministry TV channel Zvezda. ‘The sailors practised anti-submarine and anti-aircraft defence, and conducted a training rescue operation using Ka-27 helicopters.’ Footage showed the drills as the vessel passed through the narrowest point of the busy seaway between England and France amid high tension between Moscow and the West over Putin’s war against Ukraine.

Russia’s defence ministry said of the Golovko’s drills: ‘The combat crews of the frigate’s main command centre trained to disperse dangerous targets in the difficult conditions of intensive shipping in the strait .’ The war games included ‘anti-terrorist drills’ repelling aerial and marine drones of a ‘mock enemy’, said naval sources. The Admiral Golovko was accompanied by the Yantar, which subsequently switched off its transponder and diverted into the North Sea.

The 443ft-long Admiral Golovko has now passed through the English Channel and ‘is currently performing missions in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean’. State news agency TASS said: ‘The main goals of the long-distance deployment are to demonstrate the Russian flag and ensure Russia’s naval presence in operationally important areas of the World Ocean.’ The 5,400-ton Admiral Golovko joined the Navy in December and is the third frigate in the Project 22350 series.

As well as Tsirkon, the frigate is armed with a 130mm A-192 artillery system, a Redut air-defence missile system, launchers for 16 Oniks or Kalibr-NK anti-ship missiles and a Paket-NK anti-submarine system. Its deployment in the Channel comes less than two weeks after Vladimir Putin personally oversaw nuclear war drills by Russia’s strategic missile forces. The major exercises spanned Russia, with Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launches from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the northwest to the Kura test range in Kamchatka in the far east.

Defence Minister Andrei Belousov warned the West that the exercise was to show how Russia could deliver ‘a massive nuclear strike by strategic offensive forces in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy’. Nuclear-powered submarines, a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system and two Tu-95MS bombers were involved in Russia’s strategic nuclear deterrence force drills, according to Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov, who reported to Putin on the surprise drill. Putin earlier declared it was necessary to keep his strategic forces ‘constantly ready for combat’ and lauded the capability of the latest Russian missiles to overcome air defence systems.

Want more stories like this from the Daily Mail? Visit our profile page and hit the follow button above for more of the news you need.