(London) British Defense Minister John Healey warned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday after a “Russian spy ship” was spotted in the English Channel by the Royal Navy on Monday.
Posted at 10:05 a.m.
The Russian military ship Liberate had already been detected a few weeks ago above submarine cables in British waters, explains the Ministry of Defense in a press release.
“My message to President Putin is clear. We know what you are doing, and we will not hesitate to take strong action to protect the UK,” said John Healey.
The Russian ship, which is now in the North Sea, is “used to gather intelligence and map the United Kingdom’s essential underwater infrastructure”, he told MPs.
The Liberate entered British waters on Monday. “Over the past two days, the Royal Navy has deployed [navires] HMS Somerset and HMS Tyne to monitor it every minute in our waters,” said the minister.
In November, a Royal Navy submarine surfaced near the Liberate“to make it clear that we had secretly monitored his every move,” he added. It then headed towards the Mediterranean, according to John Healey.
On the French side, the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea (PRÉMAR) indicated that “French military resources” 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 PREMAR to AFP .
The army headquarters in Paris specified to AFP that “on its return from deployment in the Mediterranean, the Russian ship Liberate was accompanied from the northwest of Spain by a French frigate before being relayed by an English vessel. This escort was carried out in perfect coordination with the allies present in the area.”
The United Kingdom “plays a leading role in combating the growing threat that Russia poses to offshore infrastructure in European seas,” said the British Ministry of Defense.
The Royal Air Force will thus provide aircraft to a new NATO deployment intended to strengthen the protection of offshore infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
Several underwater telecommunications and power cables have been damaged in recent months in the Baltic Sea. European leaders and experts suspect acts of “hybrid warfare” orchestrated by Russia.
Leaders of NATO countries bordering this vast maritime space met last week in Finland to discuss ways to increase security there.
NATO will deploy ships, planes and drones in the Baltic Sea in response to this damage to submarine cables, announced its Secretary General, Mark Rutte.
