Russian spy ship directed lasers at UK military pilots, Defence Secretary says

The Russian spy ship Yantar is operating on the edge of UK waters and has directed lasers at pilots of surveillance aircraft monitoring its activities, the Defence Secretary has said.

John Healey said Britain “is ready” to respond, with “military options” drawn up if the ship heads south, in a warning to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The vessel, designed for gathering intelligence and mapping crucial undersea cables, is loitering off the northern coast of Scotland, having entered wider UK waters over the last few weeks.

Mr Healey told a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday: “We deployed a Royal Navy frigate and RAF P-8 planes to monitor and track this vessel’s every move, during which the Yantar directed lasers at our pilots.

“That Russian action is deeply dangerous. This is the second time this year that this ship, the Yantar, has deployed to UK waters.

“My message to Russia and to Putin is this: We see you. We know what you’re doing. If the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready.”

He also said: “It is part of a Russian fleet designed to put and hold our undersea infrastructure and those of our allies at risk.

“It isn’t just a naval operation. It’s part of a Russian programme driven by what they call the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research, or GUGI, and this is designed to have capabilities which can undertake surveillance in peacetime and sabotage in conflict.”

In January, it emerged the Yantar was caught lurking over undersea cables and was warned off by a Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarine.

The UK and Nato allies are increasingly concerned about the risk Moscow poses to offshore cables, pipelines and other infrastructure critical to internet connectivity.

Attacks on undersea cables could cause “catastrophic disruption” to the financial and communications systems Britons rely on, the National Security Strategy Committee warned in a September report.

The Yantar has been within the UK’s exclusive economic zone, which extends up to 200 nautical miles – about 230 miles – offshore, but has been on the edge of Britain’s territorial waters, within 12 nautical miles (13.8 miles) from the coast.

The incident with the laser is understood to have happened within the last fortnight.

Mr Healey said: “Clearly, anything that impedes, disrupts or puts at risk pilots in charge of British military planes is deeply dangerous.

“This is the first time we’ve had this action from Yantar directed against the British RAF.

“We take it extremely seriously. I’ve changed the navy’s rules of engagement so that we can follow more closely, monitor more closely, the activities of the Yantar when it’s in our wider waters.

“We have military options ready should the Yantar change course. I’m not going to reveal those, because that only makes president Putin wiser.”

A repeat of the submarine response could be one military option on the table, or warships could follow the example of the Dutch navy, which escorted the Yantar out of the Netherlands’ part of the North Sea earlier this month.