Russian spy ship enters UK waters and aims lasers at military pilots, Britain says

By Christian Edwards, Catherine Nicholls, CNN

London (CNN) — A Russian spy ship has entered British waters and directed lasers at military pilots, Britain’s defense secretary said Wednesday, as he warned that the country was facing a “new era of threat” from hostile actors.

During a speech in London, John Healey said the Yantar spy ship was currently on the edge of British waters, north of Scotland, and that the ship was designed for “gathering intelligence and mapping Britain’s undersea cables.”

He said a Royal Air Force (RAF) Poseidon-8 military plane had been deployed to “track this vessel’s every move” and that its pilots said they were targeted by lasers.

“That Russian action is deeply dangerous,” Healey said. “My message to Russia and to (President Vladimir) Putin is this: ‘We see you, we know what you’re doing, and if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready.’”

Russia’s embassy in London responded angrily to what it called “the latest provocative statements” from Healey and claimed that the Yantar was an “oceanographic research vessel” operating in international waters. In a statement, the embassy denied targeting Britain’s underwater communications or undermining its security.

“London’s Russophobic course and the whipping up of militaristic hysteria are contributing to the further degradation of European security, creating the conditions for new dangerous situations,” the embassy said.

The Yantar has entered Britain’s exclusive economic zone, which extends up to 200 nautical miles (about 230 miles) offshore, but the ship has stayed on the edge of the country’s territorial waters, defined as stretching 12 nautical miles (13.8 miles) from the coast, Britain’s PA Media news agency reported.

Healey said Russia’s actions would not deter Britain from supporting Ukraine and that the government would continue to be vigilant – “just as we have been about incursions into NATO airspace, just as we are being now in terms of identifying the Russian spy ship in UK waters and just as we have continued to be in response to sabotage threats that we have seen across many different European countries as well.”

Healey’s extraordinary announcement marked the second time this year that Britain has called out the activities of the Yantar. The government says the ship maps the undersea cables used by Britain and its NATO allies for energy and communications and is part of Russia’s secretive deep-sea research unit known as GUGI. But Healey said this is the first time that Russia has directly aimed lasers at British military aircraft.

“We take it extremely seriously,” he said. “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.” The defense secretary stressed that Britain has “military options ready, should the Yantar change course.”

Britain sees Yantar’s latest incursion into waters of the UK’s economic zone as part of a pattern of increasingly reckless Russian forays into NATO territory, as Moscow seeks to show Europe that there are costs for backing Ukraine.

In recent months, drones have repeatedly crossed from Russia into NATO’s airspace, alongside other acts of sabotage. This week, Polish officials blamed Russia for an explosion on a key rail track from Poland to Ukraine, calling it an “unprecedented act of sabotage.” Overnight into Wednesday, NATO once again scrambled fighter jets over Poland and Romania after Russian airstrikes struck western Ukraine.

“This is a new era of threat,” Healey said.

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