Warning shots from Russian warship on yacht in English Channel

A Russian warship fired warning shots on Tuesday in the English Channel at a sailboat sailing under the British flag which was approaching it “dangerously” according to the Russian Defense Ministry, leading the British authorities to open an investigation.

The incident involved the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich and a British-registered sailboat, about 20 nautical miles (about 40 km) south of the Isle of Wight, just outside British territorial waters, a source close to British Defense told AFP.

“After attempts to make contact with a British ship in the Channel, the Grigorovitch fired warning shots. These were not directed at the ship and were intended to prevent a possible collision,” said the British Ministry of Defense, which had previously said it was investigating “on reports of an incident in the Channel”.

According to the ministry, this is an “isolated” incident, unrelated to the interception on Sunday by British commandos of an oil tanker suspected of being part of the Russian ghost fleet in the same area of ​​the Channel.

The event also coincides with the summit in Evian, France, of G7 leaders, who agreed Tuesday to step up pressure on Russia to end more than four years of war in Ukraine.

According to the source close to British Defense, the Russian frigate seemed “to be drifting rather than being under propulsion, which may have made it feel more vulnerable”.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the incident occurred on Tuesday “at 12:45 p.m.” and “to attract the attention of the crew of the pleasure sailboat, flares and sound signals were launched.”

“Despite these measures, the ship continued to approach dangerously. When the distance (between the two ships, editor’s note) fell below 150 meters, the commander of the frigate decided to preemptively open fire on the ship with small arms,” ​​added the Russian ministry. “The sailboat (…) then immediately changed course.”

No injuries

For its part, the source close to British Defense indicated that the Russian warship, which was monitored by a British naval patrol boat at the time of the incident, was located approximately 450 meters from the sailboat.

No injuries or damage were noted after an inspection visit to another military boat, the HMS Tyne, added the same source.

The pleasure sailboat “was absolutely not on a collision course” with the frigate, assured Jane Kelvey, a British retiree on board with her husband Alan, to the BBC. “It was not an incident before the shots rang out,” she added.

The Telegraph reported in May that Admiral Grigorovich had been patrolling off the British coast for almost two months, escorting tankers in the English Channel belonging to the “Russian ghost fleet” used to circumvent sanctions.

The British navy had previously indicated that it had deployed several patrol boats to monitor the ship, saying that “there was not a single day” in April when the frigate was not “closely monitored”. According to her, Admiral Grigorovich was escorting Russian-flagged ships “to and from the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Baltic”…

British forces intercepted on Sunday in the Channel, with the collaboration of France, the oil tanker Smyrtos suspected of belonging to the Russian ghost fleet, the “first operation of this type” after London authorized in March the boarding of these ships by its armed forces.

According to images released by the Ministry of Defense, naval commandos boarded the ship under cover of darkness, descending hanging on ropes from a helicopter.

Tanker captain Ajay Pant, an Indian national, was charged Monday with failing to comply with British sanctions against the ghost fleet, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency said.

He appeared in court in Southampton, southern England, remotely from Bournemouth police station (south) on Tuesday, and simply confirmed his identity and address in India.

A hearing was set in Bournemouth for July 16, and he was remanded in custody until then.

The ship remains anchored off the coast of Weymouth, not far away.