Russian warship ‘fires shot at British yacht’
The Russian defence secretary has issued a statement after admitting that a warship fired shots at a British yacht.
At around 11.40am today (Tuesday 16 June), a Russian warship operating in the sea between the Isle of Wight and Normandy is understood to have fired warning shots towards a British yacht called 'Bright Future'.
The UK's ministry of defence is now said to be looking into the alleged incident, and it's clear that if anyone onboard was harmed or killed in the incident then it would have significant repercussions for the already fragile relations between Russia and the UK.
Russia's defence ministry said the yacht was 'following a dangerous course' and was just 150m away from a potential collision when the shots were fired, with the yacht then swiftly changing direction.
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However, the yacht has claimed that the Russian warship fired shots at a distance which was closer to 450m.
Sky News, citing a defence source, has reported that the warship, believed to have been the Admiral Grigorovich, was suffering from engine problems at the time.
Despite reportedly sounding an alert and firing some flares in the direction of the yacht, it seems as if the Admiral Grigorovich's crew felt it was left with no other choice when the yacht got too close.
In a Telegram statement, it claimed the yacht was 'following a dangerous course under engines to approach the ship.'
"In accordance with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, the frigate's crew made several attempts to contact the civilian vessel on the international radio channel. There was no change in the yacht's course or response to the international radio channel requests.
"To attract the attention of the yacht's crew, flares were fired and sound signals were sounded. Despite these measures, the vessel continued its dangerous approach.
"After closing the distance to 150 metres, the frigate's commander decided to fire pre-emptively at the vessel's course with small arms. The British-flagged yacht then immediately changed course and continued moving away from the Russian warship.
"The crew of the frigate Admiral Grigorovich acted in strict accordance with international shipping regulations and took all necessary measures to prevent the incident."
The Grigorovich, which is one of Vladimir Putin's Black Sea fleet ships, has reportedly been operating in British waters for the past few weeks.
Fortunately, it seems as if the yacht and its crew were relatively unscathed and were able to continue their journey along the Channel.
However, that won't stop the incident being a potential topic of discussion as Sir Keir Starmer meets other G7 leaders in France for talks about the Ukraine war this week.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "We are investigating reports of an incident in the Channel."
Topics: Russia
James Moorhouse