The return of Liberate. The Russian ship, officially in service for oceanographic missions, was tracked in the Channel this week by the Royal Navy, the British Ministry of Defense announced in a press release this Wednesday, January 22, 2025.
Qualified as “spy ship”the Liberate had already been spotted a few weeks ago above submarine cables. In November, he was cruising in the Irish Sea, not far from the Isle of Man. Tuesday evening, the boat passed off the French coast before reaching the North Sea.
“We know what you do”
Entering British waters on Monday, the Liberate East “used to gather intelligence and map the UK’s critical underwater infrastructure”said British Defense Minister John Healey to MPs. “Over the past two days, the Royal Navy has deployed HMS Somerset et HMS Tyne to monitor it every minute in our waters. »
And the British Defense Minister added: “I also want President Putin to hear this message. We see you. We know what you are doing and we will not hesitate to take strong action to protect this country. »
In November, a Royal Navy submarine surfaced near the Liberate “to make it clear that we had secretly monitored his every move”specified John Healey, for whom the United Kingdom “plays a leading role in combating the growing threat that Russia poses to offshore infrastructure in European seas”.
France on alert
-On the French side, the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea (Prémar) indicated that “French military means” were also mobilized in monitoring the Liberate but that the ship “had no proven hostile intent”.
“It regularly happens that there is a passage of a Russian vessel and there is always close surveillance which is put in place with security means and mobilization of the maritime chain”added Prémar to theAgence France-Presse.
Overview in the Mediterranean in early January
Last week, NATO released a photo of the Liberate taken in the Mediterranean by a French Navy reconnaissance plane at the beginning of the month, indicated our colleagues from Marinon January 14, suggesting that the ship would be followed until its return to Russia.
In September 2021, five months before the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the Russian ship crossed the coast of Cotentin, prompting the French Navy to dispatch a patrol boat to the area.
“We noticed that foreigners were showing a particular interest in sailing off our coast, just above the submarine cables”explained Admiral Pierre Vandier, Chief of Staff of the Navy, during a hearing before deputies in June 2021.
