'Watched every move,' says UK Royal Navy as Russia's latest warship crosses English Channel

The UK’s Royal Navy on Wednesday said it monitored a Russian warship and a merchant vessel that sailed through the English Channel this week.

The operation was led by HMS Somerset, known for conducting similar exercises on Russian vessels in the past. The Royal Navy said that it “watched every move” as Russia’s Boikiy warship escorted the Baltic Leader through UK waters.

Britain’s navy routinely conducts shadowing missions to monitor any potential threats to national security, including to critical infrastructure such as undersea cables or pipelines.

What was the Russian warship doing in The Channel?

According to a report by The Times, the vessel was a sanctioned Russian cargo ship, crewed by men in military fatigues. The ship reportedly transported military hardware through the Channel.

The Baltic Leader, a cargo vessel targeted by US sanctions for allegedly transporting weapons for the Russian military, was delivering a consignment of military equipment from Russia’s naval base in Tartus. This base, where Russian operations in Syria are being scaled back, has been facilitating the withdrawal and relocation of military assets.

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Senior analyst at the Open Source Centre, Joseph Byrne, said that satellite images show that the Baltic Leader loading cargo in the Syrian port of Tartus.

“While it isn’t exactly clear what cargo the vessel is loading, Tartus is a port where Russia has been storing its military equipment, likely waiting for transport," he told The Times.

“Since mid-February we have seen a number of Russian flagged cargo vessels sail from Syria into the Mediterranean and through the English Channel," he added.

HMS Somerset in action

HMS Somerset tracked the suspected Russian spy ship, Yantar, in January, while Royal Navy ships last month tracked six Russian naval and merchant ships carrying ammunition used in Syria through the Channel.

Somerset began monitoring Boikiy on Saturday, as the Russian warship headed south through the North Sea and English Channel to meet the Baltic Leader and escort the vessel - which came from Syria - back to Russia.

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With inputs from agencies