The RFN Admiral Grigorovich, armed with cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles has been escorting sanctioned tankers through the Channel
The Russian navy has a warship 30 miles off the British coast as the Kremlin ensures the safe passage of dozens of sanctioned tankers through the Channel.
The Russian warship is being backed up by a second naval vessel, a supply ship, allowing the Russian frigate, which is armed with cruise and surface-to-air missiles, to stay in position off the UK coast.
The vessel has so far been able to escort dozens of sanctioned Russian tankers through the Channel, sparking accusations of facilitating Vladimir Putin ’s war in Ukraine.
The two vessels are reportedly working in tandem, with the massive 122-metre supply ship restocking the Russian frigate, allowing it to loiter in waters around the Galloper wind farm, located off the Suffolk coastline, the i reports.
The Admiral Grigorovich has accompanied over a dozen so-called “shadow fleet” tankers through the English Channel, according to data by Starboard Maritime Intelligence.
Meanwhile its manoeuvres see the Russian ships occasionally entering UK waters, in a move seen as an attempt by Putin to call Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s bluff – raising fears of an escalation into armed conflict.
Elisabeth Braw, a naval expert at the Atlantic Council, said the “risky” refuelling operations between the two vessels could lead to an ecological catastrophe in British waters.
“Ship-to-ship transfers are risky and you have to be incredibly careful as accidents can happen,” she told The i Paper. “They may well need to transfer oil, but its clearly also a signal to the UK authorities they can do it, even with inherent risk of oil spills and there’s not much the UK can do about it.”
The Russians were sending a message with their armed escorts of sanctioned oil tankers, she added, explaining that the presence of an armed warship meant that enforcing the sanctions imposed on Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine would be more than just a law enforcement issue, and ny such action “may also lead to an armed conflict”.
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