A Russian spy ship, Yantar, attempted to blind British military pilots with lasers, according to Defence Secretary John Healey. Photo / Getty Images
A Russian spy ship has tried to blind British military pilots with lasers, the UK Defence Secretary has revealed.
John Healey said the Yantar vessel fired the beams of light at pilots flying an RAF P-8 Poseidon submarine hunter after the jet had been sent to monitor it.
The vessel, thought to be part of the Kremlin’s “shadow fleet”, was followed by HMS Somerset, a Royal Navy frigate, off the coast of Scotland, Healey said. The Ministry of Defence said the ship was tracked between November 5 and November 11.
It is the second time the Yantar has visited British waters in a year. Defence chiefs believe the ship is attempting to use its suite of sensors to spy on the UK.
The Yantar’s use of lasers has been seen as a dramatic escalation, with Healey calling it “deeply dangerous” during a press conference in Downing St.
Describing the incident, Healey said: “We deployed a Royal Navy frigate to monitor 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 and 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 and if the Yantar travels south this week we are ready.”
The Yantar is currently on the edge of British waters north of Scotland, having entered the “UK’s wider waters in the last few weeks”, Healey added.
Healey also said the Yantar is “part of a Russian fleet designed to put and hold our undersea infrastructure and those of our allies at risk”.
He added: “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.
“That is why we’ve been determined, whenever the Yantar comes into British wider waters, we track it, we deter it and we say to Putin we are ready, and we do that alongside allies.
“You saw this last year in the way that Britain led the response to attacks on critical infrastructure with other Baltic and Nordic nations, and then Nato stepped in as well with their operation.
“So, it’s a demonstration, if you like, of a British readiness to act, a British capability to act, because, make no mistake, we will not tolerate a threat to the British people’s essential connections under water.”
Healey announced that the Government was investing in 13 new munitions factories, as part of a £1.5 billion deal. However, he also attacked other parties’ approach to defence.
He said: “Within this Parliament, I want Britain to become the best place to invest and grow a defence business.
“I want Britain’s Armed Forces to be the fastest innovating military in NATO. I want the British Government investment matched by rising private investment.”
Healey added that only Labour believed in “the extraordinary strengths of Great Britain”.
“The Tories will cut defence again. The Greens want to pull us out of Nato, the SNP spurn the proud Scottish defence industry and Nigel Farage, he’s soft on Putin, weak on Nato and not to be trusted on national security. It’s Labour that is the party of defence.”
Yantar is thought to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet, which is better known for funding Putin’s war machine by shipping oil, in breach of Western sanctions.
Its vessels are often made up of unflagged civilian ships such as tankers. It is believed the fleet could consist of at least 600 vessels.
The spy ship was previously spotted entering UK waters in January, prompting a major intervention from the Royal Navy.
Yantar, which Healey said was designed “for gathering intelligence and mapping our undersea cables”, was shadowed by frigate HMS Somerset and patrol ship HMS Tyne.
HMS Somerset covertly launched its Merlin helicopter, which used its sensors to spot the Russian ship as it made its way north towards the English Channel.
The Type 23 frigate then closed in on Yantar’s location and intercepted it in the entrance to the Channel – south of the traffic separation scheme at Ushant, near France.
Cdr Matthew Teare, HMS Somerset’s captain, said at the time: “The Royal Navy is always there when the nation needs protecting our home, and the waters that surround it.
“This is routine business for HMS Somerset’s ship’s company and the Royal Navy, but it is nonetheless vital work for the UK’s security and I am proud of the professionalism of my crew.”
Britain has grown increasingly concerned about Russia’s naval presence in UK waters.
Last month, the Defence Secretary claimed Russian submarine activity had increased by a third.
Meanwhile, warships from the Russian fleet have been increasingly shadowed by British ships as they pass through the Channel. Defence officials insist these operations are routine.
In November 2024, Healey ordered a Royal Navy Astute-class nuclear submarine to surface just off Yantar’s bow amid fears it was trying to spy on undersea cables.
Describing the incident to MPs in January following the Yantar’s visit to the UK, the Defence Secretary said: “In November, the ship was also closely watched and detected loitering over UK critical undersea infrastructure. To deter any potential threat, I took measured steps.
“I authorised a Royal Navy submarine, strictly as a deterrent measure, to surface close to the Yantar to make clear that we had been covertly monitoring its every move.
“The ship then left UK waters without further loitering and sailed down to the Mediterranean.”
Healey’s comments come hours after a damning review warning that Britain was not ready to defend itself from an attack.
Following a year-long inquiry, the Commons defence committee said Labour was moving at a “glacial” pace in the face of renewed threats from Russia and China.
It claimed Britain was failing to meet its Nato Article 3 defence obligations to “maintain and develop individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack”.
It also warned the UK had “next to nothing” when it came to integrated air and missile defences and “lacks a plan for defending the homeland and overseas territories”.
Tan Dhesi, the committee chairman, said MPs could not bury their “heads in the sand”, adding: “We have repeatedly heard concerns about the UK’s ability to defend itself from attack. Government must be willing to grasp the nettle and prioritise homeland defence and resilience.”
The findings followed an 11-month inquiry by the committee, which included visits to Nato sites across Europe and evidence from defence experts and military chiefs.
In July, Luke Pollard, the then Armed Forces minister, told the committee: “I think we have been very clear that we are not satisfied with Article 3 in the UK. But, equally, I think that is a position that every European Nato member state is clear on as well.”
The review came to light months after Sir Keir Starmer unveiled the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), his plan to transform the Armed Forces, and pledged to ramp up defence spending to 3.5% of GDP.
But MPs expressed “deep concern” at delays to the Home Defence Programme, promised in the SDR. The report found cross-government working on homeland defence and resilience was also “nowhere near where it needs to be”.
Downing Street did not say what kind of statement the Government had put to Russia after the incident on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said that “our position on Russian interference is clear” but added that “I’m not going to get into conversations on the diplomatic level”.
Russia’s embassy in London dismissed Healey’s “provocative statements”, branding them “simply laughable”.
In a statement released on its official Telegram channel, the embassy insisted Yantar was an “oceanographic research vessel” operating in “international waters”.
It added: “The endless accusations and suspicions of the British leadership are simply laughable.
“Our country’s actions do not affect the interests of the United Kingdom and are not aimed at undermining its security. We have no interest in British submarine communications.
“However, London, with its Russophobic course and the escalation of militaristic hysteria, is contributing to the further degradation of European security, creating the preconditions for new dangerous situations.”
The embassy added: “We call on the British side to refrain from destructive steps that exacerbate the crisis on the European continent.”
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