The gunfire lasted half an hour. On Monday the Russian frigate Neustrashimy fired its guns some 46 miles (74km) from Plymouth, out in the Channel, while a Royal Navy patrol vessel stood by.
The BBC reported that the Russian crew radioed HMS Tyne beforehand to say gunnery was about to begin. Once it started, the frigate asked the British ship to back off, and Tyne repositioned. The firing happened in international waters. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson called it a live-fire weapons exercise, about 40 nautical miles from the port, and said the Royal Navy watched throughout.
Who was watching
Others were looking on too. A French military aircraft radioed the frigate and asked what it meant to do, the BBC was told. BBC Verify went through flight-tracking data and found at least four RAF and Royal Navy aircraft off the Dorset coast, among them two Eurofighter Typhoons, a Voyager tanker plus one Super Lynx helicopter. A French H160M Guépard helicopter also crossed the Channel that afternoon, though nobody has said it was the aircraft that spoke to the Russians.
Ship-tracking data shows HMS Tyne began broadcasting her position at 13:57 BST and stayed put for around two hours. She headed back to Plymouth at 15:56.
Tyne had shadowed the Russian ship for days. A satellite image from 16 July put both vessels in the North Sea, roughly 36 miles off Felixstowe. GB News added that the frigate, which belongs to the Baltic Fleet, was seen being resupplied by a logistics ship there.
Not a routine firing
A retired Royal Navy commander, Tom Sharpe, told Radio 4 that it was “very unusual” to hold a gunnery exercise so near the south coast. CNN, which called the drill rare, noted that the weapons used are not known.
The timing drew attention. Andy Burnham took office as prime minister that same day. Defence sources in London declined to say whether the two were connected, and the Kremlin denied any link.
It follows a run of Russian activity near British waters. A month earlier, Royal Marines had stormed a “shadow fleet” oil tanker, a Channel operation that ran six hours and was described as a first for UK forces. In June, the Russian warship Admiral Grigorovich fired warning shots near a British couple’s yacht, 23 miles from the Isle of Wight. Moscow’s defence ministry called their approach dangerous. Jane and Alan Kelvey said they were never on a collision course.
Sources
- Russian warship carried out firing exercise off Plymouth coast
- Russian warship conducts live-fire exercise off UK as new PM Burnham reaffirms support for Kyiv | CNN
- Russian firing exercise off UK coast ‘irresponsible’, says Streeting | LBC
- Russian warship opens fire just miles off Devon coast as Royal Navy watches on
